Please 

handle  this  volume 

with  care. 

The  University  of  Connecticut 
Libraries,  Storrs 


3  T1S3  0D5b43flS  fl 


Problems  of  To-day 


Problems  of  To-day 


Wealth — Labor — Socialism 


By 

Andrew    Carnegie 

Author   of    "The    Gospel   of   Wealth,"    etc.,    etc. 


New  York 

Doubleday,  Page   &   Company 

1909 


'T 


ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED,    INCLUDING  THAT  OF  TRANSLATION 
INTO   FOREIGN   LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING   THE   SCANDINAVIAN 


COPYRIGHT,    1908,   BY  DOUBLEDAY,   PAGE   &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHED,    NOX'EMBER,    1908 

'my  EXPERIENCE  WITH   RAILWAY   RATES   AND   REBATES' 
INCLUDED   IN  THIS   VOLUME  BY  COURTESY  OF 

THE  CENTURY  COMPANY 
COFYKIGHT,    I908,  BY  THE  CENTURY  COMPANY 


I    DEDICATE    THIS    BOOK 
TO 

THEODORE   ROOSEVELT 

A  GOOD  AND  GREAT  PRESIDENT 
WHO  HAS   ELEVATED  THE  STANDARD  OF  DUTY  IN 

BOTH   PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  LIFE 

FOREMOST  APOSTLE  OF  THE  "  SQUARE  DEAL"  FOR 

ALL  CLASSES  OF  MEN;  A  TRUE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

AND     A     MODEL     CITIZEN     IN 

EXAMPLE  AND   PRECEFP 


CONTENTS 


VAOS 

Wealth 3 

Labor 51 

Wages 85 

Thrift 97 

The  Land 103 

Individualism  versus  Socialism        <.        .121 
Variety  versus  Uniformity        .        .        .143 

Family  Relations 157 

The  Long  March  Upward       .        .        .173 
My  Experience  with  Railway  Rates  and 

Rebates 185 


Wealth 


PROBLEMS   OF   TO-DAY 

WEALTH 

WHEN  the  Publishers  discussed  with  the 
writer  the  arrangements  as  to  this  book 
they  referred  to  opinions  he  had  expressed  years 
ago  upon  the  subjects  embraced.  The  first  to 
attract  general  attention  was  published  in  the 
North  American  Review^  New  York,  in  1889. 
Mr.  Gladstone  asked  that  magazine  kindly  to 
allow  the  republication  of  the  article,  and  it 
appeared  in  the  Pall  Mall  Budget,  London, 
then  under  Mr.  Stead's  editorship,  who 
christened  it  "The  Gospel  of  Wealth." 

This  was  followed  by  a  symposium  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Cardinal  Manning,  Rev.  Price  Hughes,  Rev. 
Dr.  Hermann  Adler  and  the  writer  participated. 

When  President  Roosevelt  sent  his  notable 
message  to  Congress,  three  years  ago,  calling 
attention  to  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth, 
and  recommending  high,  progressive  taxes  upon 
estates  at  the  death  of  the  owners,  the  writer 

3 


4  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

sent  him  a  copy  of  *'The  Gospel  oi'  Wealth." 
The  President  wrote  in  reply,  that  he  was 
**  greatly  struck  with  the  fact  that  seventeen  years 
ago  you  had  it  all."  This  led  the  writer  to  pro- 
ceed a  step  further  and  add  another  chapter, 
which  appeared  in  1906. 

In  like  manner  the  writer  held  and  expressed 
advanced  views  upon  **  Labor"  and  *'Land" 
before  he  could  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  multi- 
millionaires. He  cannot  therefore  be  regarded 
as  only  a  recent  convert  to  some  of  the  doctrines 
which  are  now  promulgated  so  freely. 

As  time  has  only  served  to  confirm  the  views 
then  expressed,  it  is  believed  that  readers  will 
prefer  to  learn  what  was  written  before  these 
questions  had  come  so  prominently  to  the  front. 

The  unequal  distribution  of  wealth  lies  at 
the  root  of  the  present  Socialistic  activity.  This 
is  no  surprise  to  the  writer.  It  was  bound  to 
force  itself  to  the  front,  because,  exhibiting 
N.  extremes  unknown  before,  it  has  become  one 
of  the  crying  evils  of  our  day. 

In  the  world's  progress,  scientific  discoverers 
and  mechanical  inventors  appeared  and  adapted 
the  forces  and  materials  of  nature  to  the  uses  of 
man,  followed  by  the  commercial  and  industrial 
age  in  which  w^e  live,  in  which  wealth  has  been 
produced  as   if  by   magic,   and  fallen   largely 


WEALTH  5 

to  the  captains  of  industry,  greatly  to  their 
own  surprise.  Multi-millionaires,  a  new 
genus,  have  appeared,  laden  with  fortunes 
of  such  magnitude  as  the  past  knew  nothing 
of.  The  extremes  in  the  distribution  of  wealth 
have  never  been  so  great  as  they  are  to-day,  al- 
though salaries  and  wages  have  never  been  so 
high.  This  has  naturally  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  wage-earners  and  others  not  deluged 
by  the  golden  showers,  and  the  "Socialist's 
Budget"  appears  as  one  of  the  remedies 
proposed. 

In  the  "Gospel  of  Wealth''  (1889)  the 
writer  advocated  graduated  taxation  upon 
estates  at  death  of  owners,  saying: 

"The  growing  disposition  to  tax  more  and 
more  heavily  large  estates  left  at  death  is  a 
cheering  indication  of  the  growth  of  a  salu- 
tary change  in  public  opinion.  The  State  of 
Pennsylvania  now  takes  —  subject  to  some 
exceptions  —  one-tenth  of  the  property  left 
by  its  citizens.  The  Budget  presented  in  the 
British  Parliament  the  other  day  proposes 
to  increase  the  death-duties;  and,  most  signi- 
ficant of  all,  the  new  tax  is  to  be.  graduated. 
Of  all  forms  of  taxation  this  seems  the  wisest. 
Men  who  continue  hoarding  great  sums  all  their 
lives,  the  proper  use  of  which  for  public  ends 


6  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

would  work  good  to  the  community  from 
which  it  chiefly  came,  should  be  made  to  feel 
that  the  community,  in  the  form  of  the  State, 
cannot  thus  be  deprived  of  its  proper  share. 
By  taxing  estates  heavily  at  death  the  State 
marks  its  condemnation  of  the  selfish  millionaire's 
unworthy  life. 

"It  is  desirable  that  nations  should  go  much 
further  in  this  direction.  Indeed,  it  is  diflScult 
to  set  bounds  to  the  share  of  a  rich  man's  estate 
which  should  go  at  his  death  to  the  public  through 
the  agency  of  the  State,  and  by  all  means  such 
taxes  should  be  graduated,  beginning  at  nothing 
upon  moderate  sums  to  dependants,  and  increas- 
ing rapidly  as  the  amounts  swell,  until  of  the 
millionaire's  hoard,   as   of   Shylock's,   at   least 

'The  other  half 
Comes  to  the  privy  coffer  of  the  State.' 

This  policy  would  work  powerfully  to  induce 
the  rich  man  to  attend  to  the  administration 
of  wealth  during  his  life,  which  is  the  end  that 
society  should  always  have  in  view,  as  being  by 
far  the  most  fruitful  for  the  people.  Nor  need 
it  be  feared  that  this  policy  would  sap  the 
root  of  enterprise  and  render  men  less  anxious 
to  accumulate,  for,  to  the  class  whose  ambition 
it  is  to  leave  great  fortunes  and  be  talked  about 
after  death,   it  will  be  even   more  attractive. 


WEALTH  7 

and,  indeed,  a  somewhat  nobler  ambition 
to  have  enormous  sums  paid  over  to  the  State 
from  their  fortunes." 

Long  entertaining  such  views,  there  is  nothing 
in  the  *' Socialist's  Budget,"  as  presented  by 
Mr.  Snowden  in  the  *' Labor  Ideal"  series 
which  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  writer. 
It  will  be  noticed  it  proposes  (as  the  ''Gospel 
of  Wealth"  did  nineteen  years  ago)  that  one- 
half  of  the  deceased  millionaire's  hoard  should 
go  to  the  State  when  the  estate  exceeds 
$5,000,000. 

Mr.  Snowden's  protest  against  indirect 
taxation  of  commodities  is  also  sound,  because 
this  favors  the  rich.  One  individual  does  not 
consume  much  more  of  these  than  another, 
while  the  ability  of  the  rich  to  pay  duties  is 
infinitely  greater  than  that  of  the  masses. 

The  American,  British,  and  German  tariffs 
present  a  great  contrast,  much  to  the  benefit 
of  the  masses  of  the  American  people,  and  this 
although  America,  like  Germany,  is ''  Protective  " 
and  Britain  is  "Free  Trade." 

America  taxes  imports  heavily,  but  these 
are  the  luxuries  of  the  rich,  which  the  masses 
do  not  consume.  The  American  masses  eat, 
wear,  drink,  and  smoke  American  products. 
Only  the  rich  wear  foreign  silks,  linens,  fine 


8  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

cottons,  broadcloths,  etc.;  drink  French  wines, 
or  smoke  Havana  tobacco.  It  is  by  taxing  the 
importation  of  these  and  similar  articles  that 
America  raises  revenue.  Thus  in  1907 
$216,000,000  were  collected  upon  such  luxuries, 
all  paid  by  the  rich,  who  alone  use  them.  Tea, 
chocolate,  and  coffee  are  free.  Sugar,  formerly 
free,  alone  of  all  food  products  yields  much 
revenue,  as  a  protective  duty  of  two  cents  per 
pound  exists  upon  it  at  present,  intended  to 
stimulate  the  growth  of  beet.  Half  a  million 
tons  of  domestic  sugar  were  produced  in  1906, 
and  production  is  rapidly  increasing. 

Thus  the  American  workman  if  he  neither 
smoke  nor  drink  practically  escapes  tariff  duties, 
except  upon  sugar.  In  Britain  the  workman 
pays  not  only  upon  sugar,  but  also  upon  imported 
tobacco,  tea,  and  coffee.  The  American  excise 
tax  upon  tobacco  is  only  six  cents  per  pound 
as  compared  with  seventy-five  cents  in  Britain. 

Germany  in  1905  imported  articles  for  con- 
sumption valued  at  $595,000,000.  To  protect 
her  agriculturists  she  taxes  all  imported  food 
products,  which  are  consumed  by  rich  and 
poor  alike.  The  German  masses  are  here 
more  heavily  taxed  than  the  British. 

The  distribution  of  wealth  and  taxation  in 
Britain,  according  to  Mulhall  and  later  authori- 


WEALTH 


9 


ties,  is  estimated   as   follows  (see  Westminster 
Review,  February  1908,  p.  172): 


Class. 

Persons 

Wealth. 

Taxation. 

Rich 

Middle 

W^orking    .         ... 

680,000 

5,100,000 

38,220,000 

$60,000,000,000 

15,000,000,000 

5,000,000,000 

$190,000,000 
210,000,000 
200,000,000 

Total.     .        .     . 

44,000,000 

$80,000,000,000 

$600,000,000 

This  result  is  obtained  by  a  combination 
of  imposts  which,  taken  collectively,  tax  the 
different  classes  of  the  people  on  the  average 
in  proportion  to  their  incomes  or  wages.  But 
if  an  assessment  w^ere  made,  as  it  should  be, 
in  proportion  to  accumulated  wealth,  the  figures 
would  appear  as  follows: 


Class. 

Wealth. 

Tax. 

Rich 

Middle 

Working 

$60,000,000,000 

15,000,000,000 

5,000,000,000 

$450,000,000 

112,500,000 

37,500,000 

Total      .... 

$80,000,000,000 

$600,000,000 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  middle 
class  are  charged  $97,500,000  above  their  proper 
share,  and  the  working  class  pay  $162,500,000  too 
much;  while  the  rich  contribute  $260,000,000 
less  than  they  should  do  in  proportion  to  the 
value  of  their  real  and  personal  estate.     In  other 


10  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

words,  about  1|  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population 
own  the  bulk  of  the  wealth,  and  the  rest  of  the 
community  pay  the  bulk  of  the  taxes.  The 
statement  appears  almost  incredible;  but  the 
matter  is  of  such  importance  as  to  be  worthy  of 
oflScial  inquiry. 

Those  whose  incomes  are  only  sufficient  to 
meet  physical  wants  should  not  be  subjected  to 
taxation  at  all.  Adam  Smith's  dictum,  *'The 
subjects  of  every  State  ought  to  contribute  to 
the  support  of  government  as  nearly  as  possible 
in  proportion  to  their  respective  abilities,  that  is, 
in  proportion  to  the  revenue  which  they  respec- 
tively enjoy  under  the  protection  of  the  State," 
should  be  the  rule,  especially  since  there  is  so 
much  wealth  concentrated  in  the  richer  classes 
beyond  their  most  liberal  needs.  We  speak, 
however,  only  of  the  physical  needs  of  men.  It 
should  always  be  remembered  by  the  work- 
ing-man that  neither  liquor  nor  tobacco  can  be 
considered  as  needs.  The  dire  consequences 
resulting  from  the  use  of  liquor  would  justify 
much  higher  taxation  upon  it  in  the  interest  of 
the  workers  themselves.  The  greatest  single 
;  evil  in  Britain  to-day  is  intemperance.  Seven 
I  hundred  and  eighty-five  million  dollars  yearly 
is  the  drink  bill.     How  much  of  this  is  paid  by 


WEALTH  11 

the  working  classes  is,  we  believe,  unknown, 
but  even  if  it  be  only  one-half,  here  is  three 
hundred  and  ninety-two  and  a  half  millions 
worse  than  wasted  by  them.  The  liquor  inter- 
ests have  now  received  title  to  their  drinking- 
places,  when  before  they  had  only  licences  from 
year  to  year  —  a  present  made  to  them,  as 
estimated  by  some,  equal  to  fifteen  hundred 
million  dollars.  When  one  asks  himself  what 
would  most  benefit  the  worker,  there  is  no 
hesitation  in  the  reply  —  To  avoid  liquor  and 
gambling.  The  working-man  who  indulges  in 
either  is,  to  the  extent  he  does  so,  the  architect 
of  his  own  poverty.  Here  is  the  issue  of  greatest 
moment  to  the  working  men.  One  cannot  help 
those  who  do  not  help  themselves.  One  man 
cannot  push  another  up  a  ladder.  The  moment 
he  releases  his  grasp  the  assisted  one  falls.  It 
is  only  possible  to  really  help  those  who  co- 
operate with  the  helper.  It  is  not  the  sub- 
merged but  the  swimming  tenth  that  can  be 
steadily  and  rapidly  improved  by  the  aid  of  their 
fellows.  The  former  should  be  the  special  care 
of  the  State,  and  should  be  isolated. 

Viewing  Socialism  upon  its  financial  side,  as 
shown  in  Mr.  Snowden's  budget,  its  demands 
are  just. 

A  heavy  progressive  tax  upon  wealth  at  death 


12  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

of  owner  is  not  only  desirable,  it  is  strictly  just. 
So  is  it  just  to  exempt  from  taxation  the  mini- 
mum amount  necessary  to  supply  the  physical 
wants  of  men  and  their  families,  just  as  a  mini- 
mum is  exempt  from  income  tax  in  Britain,  and 
the  modest  homestead  is  from  foreclosure  under 
mortgage  in  America.  There  is,  however, 
nothing  specially  Socialistic  in  this.  It  is  sound 
Adam  Smith  doctrine  that  all  should  pay  taxes 
only  in  proportion  to  their  ability  to  do  so,  and 
revolutionary  Socialism  is  successfully  to  be 
combated  only  by  promptly  conceding  the  just 
claims  of  moderate  men. 

Wealth  is  undoubtedly  a  great  factor  in 
civilised  life  —  a  very  great  factor  indeed,  since 
civilisation  itself  rests  upon  it  as  its  founda- 
tion. In  his  essay  upon  the  ''  Gospel  of  Wealth  " 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  Mr.  Gladstone  pro- 
nounced it  '*the  business  of  the  world."  AVhen 
there  was  no  wealth  there  was  no  civilisation; 
none  was  possible.  All  was  necessarily  savage 
or  barbaric.  As  long  as  the  first  stage  existed, 
and  man  consumed  all  that  he  captured,  nothing 
permanent  could  be  built,  there  being  no  reserve 
fund  to  draw  upon.  Man  lived  in  the  wilderness 
almost  as  he  found  it,  sheltering  himself  in  huts 
made  of  branches  or  in  caves.  During  the 
second  stage  faint  traces  of  individualism  began 


WEALTH  13 

to  appear.  In  the  progress  of  the  race  men 
displayed  different  aptitudes;  one  man  could 
forge  swords  and  make  arrows  better  than 
another,  one  could  capture  more  fish,  another 
kill  more  game,  and  it  finally  became  profitable 
for  these  to  apply  themselves  solely  to  their 
respective  branches.  Specialisation  began  the 
root  of  individualism.  Then  came  exchange  of 
products,  but  after  a  time  barter  ceased,  and 
certain  articles  —  wampum,  beads,  skins,  shells 
—  became  *' money,"  in  which  were  invested  the 
savings  of  men.  Then  was  slowly  developed,  in 
due  progress  of  time,  that  beneficent  gospel, 
"as  a  man  soweth,  so  shall  he  reap"  — reward 
according  to  service.  Many  things  hitherto 
held  in  common  became  private  property,  and 
at  last,  out  of  the  savings  of  men  (capital), 
durable  things  were  built,  and  civilisation 
dawned.  Even  in  our  own  time  not  a  ton  nor  a 
yard  of  anything  can  be  produced,  not  a  ship  nor 
railroad,  not  a  house,  school,  university,  nor 
church  built,  without  drawing  upon  stored-up 
capital,  which  is  wealth.  At  first,  for  a  short 
period,  all  was  the  savings  of  manual  labor,  but, 
very  soon,  wealth  came  in  much  larger  amounts 
to  certain  individuals  from  various  sources  — 
increased  value  of  land,  minerals,  etc.,  and  then 
of  real  estate,  new  inventions,  etc.     Thus  wealth 


14  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

is  not  all  the  result  of  manual  labor,  though  the 
first  small  surplus  was.  The  greatest  growth  of 
wealth  from  any  one  source  in  our  times  comes 
from  the  increased  value  of  real  estate  upon  which 
little  or  no  labor  is  bestowed,  the  increase  of 
population  raising  values. 

According  to  MacPherson,*  author  of  "Car- 
lyle"  and  '*Adam  Smith"  in  the  "Famous 
Scots  Series,"  we  have  to  charge  the  greatest 
of  economists,  Adam  Smith  himself,  with  hav- 
ing made  a  slip  to  the  effect  that  **the 
wealth  of  a  nation  is  the  creation  of  labor," 
out  of  which  sprang  the  other  error  that  "labor 
is  the  measure  of  the  exchangeable  value  of 
commodities." 

Marx  took  up  these  mistaken  ideas,  and 
justly  decided  that  they  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  capitalistic  profit  is  simply  the  surplus 
value  obtained  from  unpaid  labor. 

In  extenuation  of  Smith's  slip,  it  should  be 
remembered  that,  in  his  day,  our  system  of 
gigantic  production  in  huge  establishments  had 
not  begun.  People  generally  labored  in  their 
own  homes,  and  wealth  accumulated  slowly. 
All  is  changed,  and  Marx's  theory  is  abandoned 
by  the  leading  Socialists  to-day,  who  "reject  his 
special  contributions  to  pure  economics.     His 

*The  careful  perusal  of  MacPberson's  "  Gospel  of  Socialism,"  is  recommended. 


WEALTH  15 

theory  of  value  meets  with  little  support."* 
But  the  great  mass  of  Socialistic  working-men 
have  not  yet  reached  this  stage.  Still,  the 
error,  having  been  wounded,  must  soon  die 
among  its  worshippers,  as  error  always  does.  It 
is  easily  demonstrated  to  be  an  error.  For 
instance,  the  greatest  increase  of  any  single 
department  in  wealth  arises  from  increased  value 
of  land. 

The  ratable  value  of  the  City  of  London  in 
1870  was  £2,266,842  ($11,334,210),  and  is  now 
£5,451,820  ($27,259,100).  The  corresponding 
figures  for  the  whole  metropolis  are  £18,719,237 
($93,596,185)  and  £44,351,000  ($221,755,000). 

The  valuation  of  New  York  City  has  increased 
from  $4,751,532,826  in  1903  to  $6,240,480,602 
in  1907. 

In  the  whole  of  the  United  States,  as  quoted 
elsewhere,  the  census  shows  that  from  1890 
to  1900  the  value  of  real  estate  increased  from 
$39,544,544,333  to  $52,537,628,164,  an  increase 
of  $12,993,083,831,  three  and  a  half  times  the 
national  debt  of  Britain. 

It  is  clear  that  wealth  mainly  created  by 
increase  of  population  is  not  to  be  credited  to 
labor,  for  little  additional "  labor"  was  expended. 
The  labor  of  tilling  the  soil  was  compensated 

*  Sidney  Webb.    "The  Gospel  of  Socialism,"  p.  14. 


16  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

for  by  the  crops,  and  did  not  add  to  the 
valuation. 

That  "value"  depends  upon  and  is  the 
result  of  labor  can  be  exploded  thus : 

The  late  Duke  of  Sutherland,  in  his  praise- 
worthy desire  to  improve  conditions  upon 
his  vast  Highland  estates  by  making  the  land 
support  his  people  at  home,  expended  for 
years  the  labor  of  many  men  and  vast  sums 
in  the  effort.  Few  dollars  of  ** value"  were 
created.     The  effort  failed. 

Chantrey  spends  a  year  upon  a  statue,  and 
it  brings  five  thousand  dollars.  Another  man 
works  twice  as  long  and  twice  as  hard,  yet 
his  statue  is  practically  worthless.  Both 
**  labored,"  but  purchasers  wanted  the  one 
statue,  and  did  not  want  the  other.  Thus 
the  wants  of  the  purchaser  and  not  the  *' labor 
expended"  fixes   value. 

So  with  all  forms  of  labor;  if  there  be  a 
demand  (i.e.,  a  purchaser)  for  it  at  a  certain 
price  —  for  price  is  a  potent  factor  —  what 
labor  produces  has  value.  If  not,  labor  ex- 
pended is  labor  lost.  The  result  is  that  labor 
is  not  employed  upon  articles  not  in  demand. 
Thus  "labor"  neither  creates  nor  fixes  value; 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand  does  so. 

The  employer  engaged  in  manufacturing  is 


WEALTH  17 

compelled  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people, 
his  customers.  The  interest  of  employer  and 
employee,  capital  and  labor,  in  doing  so  are 
mutual,  not  antagonistic. 

Marx  predicted  that  machinery  would  extend 
the  hours  of  labor  and  depress  wages  so  much 
that  he  foresaw  the  time  when  employers 
would  get  the  labor  of  a  whole  family  for  what 
they  had  paid  for  the  head  alone.  He  denied 
that  any  share  of  increased  profits  could  fall 
to  the  workers  so  long  as  capital  had  control 
of  machinery.  The  reverse  of  all  this  has  been 
the  result:  hours  of  labor  have  been  reduced, 
wages  increased,  and  a  great  advance  has 
been  made  in  the  position  of  wage-earners 
under  the  new  conditions  of  production.  The 
proofs  of  this  gratifying  result,  especially  during 
the  past  twenty  years,  are  among  the  most 
welcome  evidences  the  optimistic  well-wisher 
of  the  working  class  receives  that  all  goes 
well,  though  not  quite  so  fast  as  we  and  other 
reformers  most  ardently  wish. 

After  making  full  allowance  for  differences 
in  men,  it  still  remains  true  that  contrasts  in 
their  wealth  are  infinitely  greater  than  those 
existing  between  them  in  their  different  qualities, 
abilities,  education,  and,  except  the  supreme 
few,   their  contributions  to  the  world's  work. 


18  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

It  should  be  remembered  always  that  wealth 
is  not  chiefly  the  product  of  the  individual 
under  present  conditions,  but  largely  the  joint 
product  of  the  community. 

Let  us  go  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and 
inquire  how  fortunes  are  created,  whence  and 
how  they  arise.  This  the  writer  has  recently 
attempted  to  do  in  the  following  manner: 

Imagine  an  honest,  hard-working  farmer 
who  finds  himself  able  to  give  to  each  of  his 
two  sons  a  farm.  They  have  married  ad- 
mirable young  women  of  the  neighborhood, 
of  good  kith  and  kin,  friends  from  youth  — 
no  mistake  about  their  virtues.  The  sons 
find  farms,  one  in  the  centre  of  Manhattan 
Island,  the  other  beyond  the  Harlem.  They 
cast  lots  for  the  farms  as  the  fairest  method, 
thus  letting  the  fates  decide.  Neither  has  a 
preference.  The  Harlem  farm  falls  to  the 
elder,  the  Manhattan  to  the  younger.  Mark 
now  the  problem  of  wealth,  how  it  develops. 

A  few  hundred  dollars  buy  the  farms^  and 
the  loving  brothers  set  out  for  themselves. 
They  are  respected  by  all;  loved  by  their 
intimates.  To  the  extent  of  their  means,  they 
are  liberal  contributors  to  all  good  causes,  and 
especially  to  the  relief  of  neighbors  who  through 
exceptional    troubles    need    friendly    aid    and 


WEALTH  19 

counsel.  They  are  equally  industrious,  cul- 
tivate their  farms  equally  well,  and  in  every 
respect  are  equally  good  citizens  of  the  State. 
Their  children  grow  up  and  are  educated 
together. 

The  growth  of  New  York  City  northward 
soon  makes  the  children  of  the  younger  million- 
aires, while  those  of  the  elder  remain  simple 
farmers  in  comfortable  circumstances,  but,  for- 
tunate in  this  beyond  their  cousins,  still  of  the 
class  who  have  to  perform  some  service  to 
their  fellows  and  thus  earn  a  livelihood. 

Now,  who  or  what  made  this  difference  in 
wealth  }  Not  labor,  not  skill.  No,  nor  superior 
ability,  sagacity,  nor  enterprise,  nor  greater 
public  service.  The  community  created  the 
millionaire's  wealth.  WTiile  he  slept  it  grew 
as  fast  as  when  he  was  awake.  It  would 
have  arisen  exactly  as  it  did  had  he  been  on 
the  Harlem  and  his  brother  on  the  Manhattan 
farm. 

The  younger  farmer,  now  a  great  property- 
holder,  dies,  and  his  children  in  due  time  pass 
away,  each  leaving  millions,  since  the  farm  has 
become  part  of  a  great  city,  and  immense 
buildings  upon  it  produce  annual  rents  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

When  these  children  die,  who  have  neither 


20  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

toiled  nor  spun,  what  canon  of  justice  would 
be  violated  were  the  nation  to  step  in  and  say 
that,  since  the  aggregation  of  their  fellow- 
men  called  "the  community"  created  the  de- 
cedents' wealth,  it  is  entitled  to  a  large  portion 
of  it  as  they  pass  away?  The  community  has 
refrained  from  exacting  any  part  during  their 
lives.  The  heirs  have  been  allowed  to  enjoy  it 
all,  because  although  in  their  case  the  wealth  was 
a  purely  communal  growth,  yet  in  other  cases 
wealth  often  comes  largely  from  individual 
effort  and  ability,  and  hence  it  is  better  for  the 
community  to  allow  such  ability  to  remain  in 
charge  of  fortune-making,  because  more  likely 
to  succeed,  and  in  so  doing  develop  our  country's 
resources. 

It  would  be  unwise  to  interfere  with  the 
working  bees;  better  allow  them  to  continue 
gathering  honey  during  their  lives.  When  they 
die,  the  nation  should  have  a  large  portion  of' 
the  honey  remaining  in  the  hives ;  it  is  immaterial^ 
at  what  date  collection  is  made,  so  that  it  comes 
to  the  National  Treasury  at  last. 

That  by  far  the  greatest  amount  of  wealth 
created  in  any  branch  comes  from  enhanced 
values  of  real  property  is  especially  true  in 
a  prosperous  country,  increasing  rapidly  in 
population,  like  the  United  States.     The  census 


WEALTH  21 

shows  that  from  1890  to  1900  the  value  of 
real  estate  increased  from  $39,544,544,333  to 
$52,537,628,164,  an  increase  of  $12,993,083,831; 
$1,300,000,000  per  year,  over  $3,500,000  per 
day. 

The  obvious  creator  of  this  wealth  is  not 
the  individual,  but  the  community,  as  we 
see  in  the  case  of  the  two  brother  farmers. 
Property  may  pass  through  many  proprietors, 
each  paying  more  for  it  than  his  predecessor ;  but 
whether  each  succeeding  owner  sells  to  his 
successor  at  a  profit  depends  almost  solely  upon 
whether  the  surrounding  population  increases. 
Let  population  remain  stationary,  and  so  do 
values  of  property.  Let  it  decline,  and  values 
fall  even  more  rapidly.  In  other  words, 
increased  population  —  the  community  —  in- 
creases the  wealth  in  each  successive  genera- 
tion. Decrease  of  population  reduces  it,  and 
this  law  holds  in  the  whole  of  that  vast  and 
greatest  field  of  wealth,  real  estate.  In  no  other 
field  is  the  making  of  wealth  so  greatly  dependent 
upon  the  community,  so  little  upon  the  owner, 
who  may  wholly  neglect  it  without  injury. 
Therefore,  no  other  form  of  wealth  should 
contribute  to  the  nation  so  generously. 

Let  us  now  trace  the  acquisition  of  wealth 
by    the    active    business    man    who    has    some 


22  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

personal  part,  and  often  not  a  small  one,  in 
creating  it. 

Imagine  five  brothers,  sons  of  another  hard- 
Y/orking  farmer.  The  first  settles  in  New  York 
City,  the  second  in  Pittsburg,  the  third  in 
Chicago,  and  the  fourth  in  Montana.  The 
first  sees  that  railroads  in  every  direction  are 
essential  to  the  coming  metropolis,  devotes 
himself  to  this  field,  and  obtains  large  interests 
therein.  As  the  population  of  the  country 
increases,  and  that  of  New  York  City  bounds 
ahead  into  the  millions,  these  lines  of  transport 
laden  with  traflic  justify  increasing  bonded 
debt.  Having  the  figures  under  his  eye,  he 
sees  that  the  shares  of  these  railways  are  sure 
to  become  dividend-paying,  that  even  already 
there  are  surplus  earnings  beyond  the  bonded 
interest,  which,  if  not  needed  for  pressing 
extensions,  could  be  paid  in  dividends  and 
make  the  stock  par.  He  strains  his  credit, 
borrows  great  sums,  buys  the  shares  when 
prices  are  low,  and,  floating  upon  a  tidal  wave 
of  swelling  prosperity,  caused  by  the  increased 
traffic  of  rapidly  increasing  communities,  he 
soon  becomes  a  multi-millionaire,  and  at  his 
death  his  children  are  all  left  millionaires.  In 
the  consolidation  of  the  various  short  lines  into 
one  great  whole   there   was   margin  for  a  stu- 


WEALTH  23 

pendous  increase  of  capital;  and  in  other  col- 
lateral fields  there  lay  numerous  opportunities 
for  profitable  exploitation,  all,  however,  depen- 
dent upon  an  expanding  population  for  increased 
values.  Now,  while  the  founder  of  the  family 
must  be  credited  with  remarkable  ability  and 
with  having  done  the  state  some  service  in  his 
day  and  generation,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  chief  creators  of  his  wealth  were  the  increas- 
ing communities  along  the  railroads,  which  gave 
the  traffic  that  lifted  these  lines  into  dividend- 
payers  upon  a  capital  far  beyond  their  actual  cost. 

In  the  work  and  its  profits  the  nation  was 
an  essential  partner,  and  is  equally  entitled 
with  the  individual  to  share  in  the  dividends. 

The  second  son  is  so  fortunate  as  to  settle 
in  Pittsburg  when  it  had  just  been  discovered 
that  some  of  the  coalfields  of  which  it  is  the 
centre  produced  a  coking-coal  admirably 
adapted  for  iron-ore  smelting.  Another  vein 
easily  mined  proved  a  splendid  steam-coal. 
Small  iron-mills  soon  sprang  up.  Everything 
indicated  that  here  indeed  was  the  future  iron 
city,  where  steel  could  be  produced  more  cheaply 
than  in  any  other  location  in  the  world.  Nat- 
urally, his  attention  was  turned  in  this  direction. 
He  wooed  the  genius  of  the  place.  This  was 
not  anything  extraordinarily  clever.     It  was  in 


U  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

the  air.  He  is  entitled  to  credit  for  having 
abiding  faith  in  the  future  of  his  country  and 
of  steel,  and  for  risking  with  his  young  com- 
panions not  only  all  he  had,  which  was  little 
or  nothing,  but  all  they  could  induce  timid 
bankers  to  lend  from  time  to  time.  He  and 
his  partners  built  mills  and  furnaces,  and 
finally  owned  a  large  concern  making  millions 
yearly.  This  son  and  his  partners  looked  ahead. 
They  visited  other  lands  and  noted  conditions, 
and  finally  concluded  that  a  large  supply  of 
raw  materials  was  the  key  to  permanent  pros- 
perity. Accordingly,  they  bought  or  leased 
many  mines  of  iron  ore,  many  thousands  of 
acres  of  coal  and  of  limestone  and  also  of 
natural-gas  territory,  and  at  last  had  for  many 
long  years  a  full  supply  of  all  the  minerals 
required  to  produce  iron  and  steel.  This 
was  sound  policy,  but  it  did  not  require  genius, 
only  intelligent  study,  foresight  and  good  judg- 
ment, to  see  that.  They  did  not  produce 
these  minerals;  they  saw  them  lying  around 
open  for  sale  at  prices  that  are  now  deemed 
only  nominal.  Much  of  the  wealth  of  the 
concern  came  from  these  minerals,  which  were 
once  the  public  property  of  the  community, 
and  were  easily  secured  by  this  fortunate  son 
and  his  partners  upon  trifling  royalties. 


^\^ALTH  25 

Their  venture  was  made  profitable  by  the 
demand  for  their  products,  iron  and  steel,  from 
the  expanding  population  engaged  in  settling 
a  new  continent.  Without  new  populous  com- 
munities far  and  near,  no  millionairedom  was 
possible  for  them.  The  increasing  population 
was  always  the  important  factor  in  their  success. 
Why  should  the  nation  be  denied  participation 
in  the  results  when  the  gatherers  cease  to 
gather  and  a  division  has  to  be  made  ? 

The  third  son  was  attracted  to  Chicago,  and 
quite  naturally  became  an  employee  in  a  meat- 
packing concern,  in  which  he  soon  made  him- 
self indispensable.  A  small  interest  in  the 
business  w^as  finally  won  by  him,  and  he  rose 
in  due  time  to  millionairedom,  just  as  the 
population  of  the  country  swelled.  If  Chicago 
to-day,  and  our  country  generally,  had  only 
the  population  of  early  days,  there  could  have 
been  no  great  fortune  for  the  third  son.  Here,  as 
before,  it  was  the  magnitude  of  the  business, 
based  solely  upon  the  wants  of  the  population, 
that  swelled  the  yearly  profits  and  produced 
prodigious   fortunes. 

The  fourth  son,  attracted  by  the  stories  of 
Hecla  and  Calumet,  and  other  rich  mines 
which  "far  surpass  the  wealth  of  Ormus  or  of 
Ind,"  settled  in  Montana,  and  was  lucky  after 


26  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

some  years  of  rude  experience.  His  ventures 
gave  him  the  coveted  millionairedom.  The 
amount  of  copper  and  silver  required  by  the 
teeming  population  of  the  country  and  of  other 
lands  kept  prices  high,  and  hence  his  enormous 
profits  mined  from  land  for  which  only  a  trifle 
was  paid  to  the  general  government  not  so 
long  ago.  He  did  not  create  his  wealth;  he 
only  dug  it  out  of  the  mine  as  the  demands  of 
the  people  gave  value  to  the  previously  worth- 
less stones.  Here  especially  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  the  people  who  created  the  value  should 
share  the  dividends  when  these  must  pass  into 
other    hands. 

The  fifth  son  had  a  melancholy  career. 
He  settled  in  New  York  City  while  young, 
and  unfortunately  began  his  labors  in  a  stock- 
broker's office,  where  he  soon  became  absorbed 
in  the  fluctuations  of  the  Exchange,  while  his 
fond  mother  proudly  announced  to  all  she  met 
that  he  was  *'in  business."  From  this  the  step 
was  easy  to  taking  chances  with  his  small 
earnings.  His  gambling  adventures  proved 
successful.  It  was  an  era  of  rising  values,  and 
he  soon  acquired  wealth  without  increasing 
values,  for  speculation  is  the  parasite  of  business 
feeding  upon  values,  creating  none.  A  few 
years  and  the  feverish  life  of  the  gamester  told 


WEALTH  27 

upon  him.  He  was  led  into  a  scheme  to  corner 
a  certain  stock,  and,  as  was  to  have  been 
expected,  he  found  that  men  who  will  conspire 
to  entrap  others  will  not  hesitate  to  deceive 
their  partners  upon  occasion  if  sure  it  will  pay 
and  is  safe  from  exposure.  He  ended  his  life 
by  his  own  hand.  His  end  serves  to  keep  his 
brothers  resolute  in  the  resolve  never  to  gamble. 
The  speculator  seldom  leaves  a  millionaire's 
fortune,  unless  he  breaks  down  or  passes  away 
when  his  ventures  are  momentarily  successful. 
In  such  a  case  his  ill-gotten  gold  should  be  levied 
upon  by  the  State  at  the  highest  rate  of  all,  even 
beyond  that  imposed  upon  real  estate  values. 
Wealth  is  often,  w^e  may  say  generally,  accumu- 
lated in  such  manner  as  benefits  the  nation  in 
the  process;  here  it  demoralises  the  getter  as 
well  as  the  people,  and  lowers  the  standard  of 
ethics;  it  is  taken  without  returning  any  valid 
consideration  and  ranks  with  gamblers'  games. 

There  is  one  class  of  millionaires  whose 
wealth  in  very  much  greater  degree  than  others 
may  be  credited  to  themselves:  inventors  — 
Graham  Bell  of  the  telephone,  Edison  of 
numerous  inventions,  Westinghouse  of  the  air- 
brake, and  others  —  who  originated  or  first 
applied  processes  hitherto  unused,  and  were 
sufficiently    alive    to    their    pecuniary    interests 


28  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

to  hold  large  shares  in  the  companies  formed 
to  develop  and  introduce  them  to  the  public. 
Their  wealth  had  its  origin  in  their  own 
inventive  brains.  All  honor  to  the  inventor! 
He  stands  upon  a  higher  platform  than  the 
others. 

It  may  be  said  that  in  greater  or  less  degree 
our  leading  manufacturers,  railroad-builders, 
department-store  projectors,  meat-packers,  and 
other  specialists  in  one  line  or  other  had  to 
adopt  new  methods,  and,  with  few,  if  any,  excep- 
tions, there  can  be  traced  in  their  careers  some 
special  form  of  ability  upon  which  their  success 
depended,  thus  distinguishing  them  from  the 
mass  of  competitors.  No  doubt  this  is  correct, 
yet  the  inventions  or  processes  used  were  the 
work  of  others,  so  that  all  they  did  was  to  intro- 
duce new  methods  of  management  or  to  recog- 
nise and  utilise  opportunities.  This  the  inven- 
tor class  have  also  done  if  they  have  become 
millionaires,  but  in  addition  they  have  invented 
the  new  processes.  So  that  these  deserve  to 
reap  beyond  the  other  class,  yet  only  in  degree, 
because  both  classes  alike  depend  upon  increas- 
ing population  —  the  masses,  who  require,  or 
consume,  the  article  produced  —  so  that  even 
the  inventor's  wealth  is  in  great  part  dependent 
upon  the  community  which  uses  his  productions. 


WEALTH  29 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  why,  at  the  death 
of  its  possessor,  great  wealth,  gathered  or 
created  in  any  of  these  or  in  other  forms,  should 
not  be  shared  by  the  community  which  has 
been  the  most  potent  cause  or  partner  of  all 
in  its  creation.  We  have  seen  that  enormous 
fortunes  are  dependent  upon  the  community; 
without  great  and  increasing  population,  there 
could  be  no  great  wealth.  Where  wealth 
accrues  honorably,  the  people  are  always  silent 
partners. 

It  is  not  denied  that  the  great  administrator, 
whether  as  railroad-builder,  steamship-owner, 
manufacturer,  merchant,  or  banker,  is  an  excep- 
tional man,  or  that  millions  honestly  made  in 
any  useful  occupation  give  evidence  of  ability, 
foresight,  and  assiduity  above  the  common, 
and  prove  the  man  who  has  made  them  a  very 
valuable  member  of  society.  In  no  wise,  there- 
fore, should  such  men  be  unduly  hampered  or 
restricted  as  long  as  they  are  spared.  After 
all,  they  can  absorb  comparatively  little;  and, 
generally  speaking,  the  money-making  man, 
in  contrast  to  his  heirs,  who  generally  become 
members  of  the  smart  or  fast  set,  is  abstemious, 
retiring,  and  little  of  a  spendthrift.  The  million- 
aire himself  is  probably  the  least  expensive  bee 
in  the  industrial  hive,  taking  into  account  the 


30  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

amount  of  honey  he  gathers  and  what  he 
consumes. 

Practically  every  thousand  of  his  money  is 
at  work  for  the  development  of  the  country, 
and  earning  interest,  much  of  it  paying  labor. 

In  the  interests  of  the  community,  therefore, 
he  should  not  be  disturbed  while  gathering 
honey,  provided  it  be  destined  largely  for  the 
general  hive,  under  a  just  system  of  taxation, 
when  he  passes  away. 

Those  who  have  not  had  opportunity  to  study 
the  operation  of  wealth  in  the  world  are  naturally 
led  astray.  They  see  its  possessors  in  their 
palaces  surrounded  with  every  luxury,  their 
gorgeous  carriages  in  the  park;  they  read  of 
their  extravagant  balls,  of  riotous  living  and 
inordinate  expenditure,  and,  worse  than  this,  of 
gambling  at  cards,  and  upon  horses  —  horse- 
racing  in  Britain  unfortunately  is  still  under  the 
highest  patronage  —  sights  naturally  hard  to 
bear  by  those  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 
The  writer  has  no  desire  to  minimise  this  sad 
contrast-  nor  to  say  one  word  in  its  defense.  It 
is  one  of  the  saddest  and  most  indefensible  of  ail 
contrasts  presented  in  life ;  but  when  we  proceed 
to  trace  the  work  of  wealth  as  a  whole,  it  is  soon 
found  that  even  these  extravagances  absorb  but 
a  small  fraction  of  it.     The  millionaire's  funds 


WEALTH  31 

are  all  at  work;  only  a  small  sum  lies  in  bank 
subject  to  check.  Our  railways  and  steam- 
ships, mills  and  furnaces,  industrial  structures, 
and  much  of  the  needed  working  capital  to  keep 
these  in  operation,  are  the  result  of  invested 
wealth.  The  millionaire  with  two,  or  the  new 
multi-millionaire  with  twenty,  millions  sterling, 
keep  only  trifling  sums  lying  idle.  x\ll  else  they 
put  to  work,  much  of  it  employing  labor.  They 
cannot  escape  this  unless  they  turn  misers  and 
keep  the  gold  to  gloat  over,  which  no  rich  man 
does  whom  the  writer  knows  or  has  heard  of. 
On  the  contrary,  the  millionaire  as  a  rule  is  both 
mindful  and  shrewd,  more  apt  than  those  of 
smaller  fortune  to  invest  his  capital  carefully. 
Besides,  he  is  usually  a  man  of  simple  tastes  and 
averse  to  display. 

'Wliatever  impressions  the  workers  may 
receive  of  the  wealthier  classes,  the  fact  is 
indisputable  that  their  surplus  money,  minus  a 
small  fraction,  must  augment  the  wage  fund, 
and  in  some  line  or  other  benefit  those  who 
labor.  Even  their  extravagances  must  in  their 
course  contribute  to  the  business  of  many  people 
struggling  to  obtain  a  competence,  and  hence 
to  the  employment  of  labor.  Little  can  be 
spent  by  the  rich  without  drawing  upon  the  labor 
of  others,  which  must  be  paid  for.     All  that  the 


32  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

millionaire  can  get  out  of  life  is  superior  food, 
raiment,  and  shelter.  Only  a  small,  a  very 
small,  percentage  of  all  his  millions  can  be 
absolutely  wasted.  When  the  Socialist,  there- 
fore, speaks  of  all  wealth  going  back  to  the 
State,  he  proclaims  no  great  change  in  its 
mission.  The  State,  sole  owner,  would  use 
it  just  as  the  owners  now  use  all  but  a  fraction 
of  it;  that  is,  invest  it  in  some  of  the  multiform 
ways  leading  to  the  reward  of  labor.  It  is  simply 
a  question  whether  State  as  against  Individual 
control  of  wealth  would  prove  more  productive, 
which,  judging  from  experience  of  State  and 
Individual  management  so  far  as  yet  tested, 
may  gravely  be  doubted.  It  could  not  make 
much  difference  to  the  workers  whether  the  title 
to  the  wealth  rested  in  the  State  or  in  individuals 
if  the  State  decided,  as  individuals  now  do,  to 
recompense  labor  according  to  value  as  deter- 
mined by  demand,  the  fairest  standard.  All 
would  remain  very  much  as  now;  one  would  still 
get  five  talents,  one  ten,  and  a  few  would  get  very 
many  talents,  and  individualism  would  reign. 
The  bridge  has  yet  to  be  found  that  spans 
the  gulf  between  equal  and  unequal  compen- 
sation for  varied  service;  yet,  until  this  be 
found  —  we  believe  it  to  be  non-existent  and 
impossible  to  devise  —  there  can  be  no  Com- 


WEALTH  33 

munism,  nor  indeed  any  milder  form  of  Socialism 
to  which  serious  objection  need  be  made  by 
earnest  improvers  of  present  conditions,  since  the 
absorption  of  *' Private  property"  and  "Equal 
compensation,"  the  two  pillars  of  Revolutionary 
Socialism,  are  inevitably  relegated  to  the  distant 
future  until  a  practicable  mode  of  obtaining  and 
managing  them  be  found. 

We  hear  far  too  much  these  days  upon  the 
subject  of  wealth  as  the  main  object  of  life. 
Only  by  the  manual  working  man  and  poorer 
classes  is  money  regarded  as  the  great  idol  of 
our  age,  before  which  all  fall  prostrate,  and  this 
simply  because  it  is  their  one  pressing  want  and 
its  acquisition  their  life  work.  True,  wealth  is 
displacing  hereditary  rank,  which  until  our 
own  day  held  foremost  position  in  Britain. 
Now  the  poor,  average  hereditary  Peer  seeks 
its  alliance  and  remains  of  little  consequence 
unless  successful,  because  compelled  to  maintain 
an  ostentatious  style  of  living,  which  without 
fortune  is  impossible.  He  bargains  for  an 
heiress,  because  his  position  depends  not  upon 
his  merits  but  upon  her  wealth.  This  applies 
only  to  the  small  United  Kingdom,  for  among 
our  English-speaking  race  elsewhere  throughout 
the  world  hereditary  rank  is  unknown.  It  is  a 
survival  of  the  past  which  raises  a  smile,  for  it  is 


34  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

amusing  to  watch  titled  personages  assuming 
positions  in  State  or  Society  solely  because  some 
one  who  preceded  them  won  precedence. 

Let  this  be  noted  by  the  workers:  none  of 
the  professions  regard  great  wealth  as  the 
chief  prize.  Its  acquisition  is  not  their  aim. 
Consider  the  physician :  when  a  man  selects  that 
noble  career,  knowing  all  its  trials,  and  conse- 
crates himself  to  the  amelioration  of  human 
suffering,  he  knows  well  fortune  is  not  there '^  to 
be  found.  He  has  a  much  higher  prize  than 
wealth  in  view.  Consider  the  minister,  he 
who  feels  that  he  has  a  message  to  deliver  to  his 
fellows  and,  answering,  embraces  the  call. 
Wealth  does  not  allure  him.  So  with  the  lawyer. 
Wealth  is  not  in  his  mind  as  the  reward  of  his 
labors.  The  Chief  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Courts  are  above  pecuniary  gain.  The  inventor, 
the  architect,  the  engineer,  and  the  scientist  all 
have  nobler  rewards  before  them  than  riches. 
Only  a  modest  competence  is  the  reasonable 
expectation  of  all  these  classes.  The  great 
teachers  of  their  fellows,  the  presidents  and 
professors  of  our  seats  of  learning,  and  the 
teachers  of  our  common  schools  —  what  thought 
have  they  of  bowing  before  the  vulgar  idol  of 
wealth  ?  Our  poets,  authors,  statesmen,  the 
very  highest  types  of  humanity,  are  above  the 


WEALTH  35 

allurements  of  money-making.  These  know 
of  liiglier  satisfactions  and  nobler  lives  than  those 
of  the  mere  millionaire.  Having  their  nobler 
missions,  they  have  no  time. to  waste  accumulat- 
ing dross.  ^ 

All  these  men  are  quite  right,  for  beyond 
a  competence  for  old  age,  which  need  not  be 
great  and  may  be  very  small,  wealth  lessens 
rather  than  increases  human  happiness. 
Millionaires  who  laugh  are  rare.  The  deplor- 
able family  quarrels  which  so  often  afflict 
the  rich,  generally  have  their  rise  in  sordid 
differences  about  money.  The  most  miser- 
able of  men,  as  old  age  approaches,  are 
those  who  have  made  money-making  their 
god;  like  flies  bound  to  the  wheel,  these 
unfortunates  fondly  believed  they  were  really 
driving  it,  only  to  find  when  tired  and  crav- 
ing rest  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  get 
off,  and  they  are  lost  —  plenty  to  retire  upon 
but  nothing  to  retire  to,  and  so  they  end  as 
they  began,  striving  to  add  to  their  useless 
hoards,  passing  into  nothingness,  leaving  their 
money  behind  for  heirs  to  quarrel  over,  only 
because  they  cannot  take  it  with  them  —  a 
melancholy  end  much  less  enviable  than  that  of 
their  poorer  fellows. 

Wealth  confers    no    fame,    although    it    may 


36  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

buy  titles  where  such  prevail.  Nor  are  the 
memories  of  millionaires  as  a  class  fondly 
cherished.  It  is  a  low  and  vulgar  ambition 
to  amass  money,  which  should  always  be 
the  slave,  never  the  master,  of  man. 

There  is  one  fundamental  difference  between 
Rank  and  Wealth.  There  can  be  no  hereditary 
aristocracy  of  wealth.  Where  it  is  left  free,  as 
a  rule  it  passes  in  three  generations  from  shirt- 
sleeves to  shirt-sleeves  in  all  English-speaking 
lands  except  the  United  Kingdom,  where  the 
law  of  primogeniture  and  legal  settlements  guard 
a  hereditary  class  and  defeat  the  operation  of 
the  natural  law.  In  free  lands  the  children  of 
millionaires  and  their  children  may  be  safely 
trusted  to  fulfil  the  law;  to  keep  a  fortune  is 
scarcely  less  difficult  than  to  acquire  it.  Wealth 
is  dispersive  where  unbuttressed  by  special  laws 
designed  to  keep  it  in  certain  channels,  all  of 
Vv^hich  laws  should  be  promptly  repealed. 

Wealth  in  America,  the  land  of  greatest  for- 
tunes, never  yet  has  passed  beyond  the  third 
generation.  It  seldom  gets  so  far.  We  have 
a  few,  a  very  few,  families  of  the  third  generation 
now  spending  the  fortunes  made  by  their  grand- 
fathers. The  two  or  three  greatest  fortunes  of 
their  day  are  now  being  freely  distributed  among 
the   children   and   grandchildren,   and   will   be 


WEALTH  37 

reduced  to  moderate  sums  for  each  when  the 
present  children  reach  maturity;  as  certain  as 
fate  many  of  their  descendants  will  be  found  toil- 
ing as  their  able  ancestors  did  in  their  shirt- 
sleeves. We  may  safely  trust  those  who  have 
not  made  the  money  to  prove  adepts  in 
squandering  it. 

Great  fortunes  are  few.  The  aggregate  of 
wealth  embraced  in  these  is  small  compared  with 
the  amount  in  very  moderate  fortunes.  The 
former  attract  attention  far  beyond  their 
importance. 

Gigantic  fortunes,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
must  be  fewer  and  harder  to  build  up  in  the 
future  than  in  the  past.  Most  great  enter- 
prises are  now  in  the  corporate  form.  The 
writer  knows  of  but  one  man  now  in  active 
business  who  is  likely  to  have  an  exception- 
ally large  estate,  and  the  foundation  of  that 
was  laid  more  than  half  a  century  ago  by 
the  purchase  of  timber  lands  which  have  increased 
enormously  in  value. 

W^e  can  safely  trust  to  the  free  play  of  natural 
forces  under  progressive  taxation,  if  not  thwarted 
by  legislation  as  in  Britain,  to  prevent  danger 
or  injury  to  the  State  arising  from  hereditary 
wealth. 

The  equal  distribution  of  wealth  is  one  of  the 


38  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

loudest  cries  of  the  Socialist.  Let  us  suppose 
that  a  philanthropist  —  which  generally  means 
a  man  with  more  money  than  sense  —  resolved 
to  act  upon  that  idea,  and  distribute  his  fortune 
among  the  poor  of  London  or  New  York,  went 
to  them  one  morning,  and  announced  his 
purpose.  He  is  soon  surrounded,  and  begins 
the  distribution.  Each  man  or  woman  gets 
pro  rata,  say  £5  sterling,  until  many  thousands 
are  given  away,  the  crowd  still  constantly 
increasing.  He  returns  at  night  to  witness  the 
result,  and  shudders  at  the  vision  that  presents 
itself.  Are  these  indeed  men  and  women,  or 
only  degraded  wretches  in  human  form  ?  Is  it 
not  evident  to  all  that  the  first  and  indispensable 
w^ork  of  the  Socialist  is  the  elevation  of  humanity 
to  that  standard  of  conduct  which  would  ensure 
the  wise  and  sober  use  of  benefactions.^  We 
would  all  agree  that  when  this  necessary  elevation 
was  reached,  the  discussion  of  further  steps  to 
relieve  distress  would  be  in  order.  Meanwhile, 
the  foolish  distributor  would  have  done  more 
injury  to  his  fellows  in  one  day  than  he  could 
probably  do  good  all  the  rest  of  his  life.  '*  Down 
on  your  knees  and  crawl  for  pardon,"  are  the 
words  one  would  undoubtedly  apply  to  such  a 
philanthropist.  Imagine  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  Britain  receiving  £250  sterling  ($1,250), 


WEALTH  39 

which  is  one's  proportion  of  the  national  wealth, 
if  equally  divided.  What  would  be  the  result  ? 
Saturnalia  for  a  time,  then  rich  and  poor  as 
before  slowly  emerging,  the  last  state  worse 
than  the  first.  It  is  self-evident  that  there 
is  at  present  no  foundation  upon  which  wealth 
can  be  equally  distributed.  The  soil  has  not 
been  prepared.  Seed  sown  upon  it  would  be 
choked  by  thistles.  Meanwhile,  our  immediate 
duty  is  to  distribute  surplus  wealth  to  the  best 
of  our  abilities  in  such  forms  as  we  believe  best 
calculated  to  improve  existing  conditions,  and 
to  secure  its  more  equitable  distribution  hereafter 
by  heavy  progressive  death-duties,  and  by 
assessing  the  people  in  proportion  to  their  ability 
to  support  the  Government.  This  policy 
President  Roosevelt  is  strongly  advocating  in 
America.  It  is  much  more  urgently  needed  in 
Britain. 

Socialists  generally  wTite  of  wealth  as  if 
possessed  by  the  few,  but  the  fact  must  never 
be  lost  sight  of,  that  the  laboring  classes,  in  the 
aggregate,  are  great  capitalists.  The  savings 
banks  of  New  York  State  alone  in  1906  held 
$1,335,000,000,  owned  by  2,637,235  depositors. 
Average  deposits,  $506.25.  This  is  all  the 
savings  of  the  workers,  for  business  men  and 
capitalists  use  their  money  to  better  advantage. 


40  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

These  banks  are  strictly  confined  by  charter  to 
investments  in  first-class  securities,  are  carefully 
managed,  and  possess  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  In  the  United  States  the  deposits 
in  savings  banks  amounted  to  the  grand  total 
of  $3,482,000,000,  but  this  is  no  measure  of  the 
total  savings  of  the  working  people,  because  in 
America,  especially  in  the  Western  States,  oppor- 
tunities for  more  profitable  investment  of  savings 
are  numerous,  and  the  rapid  increase  of  values 
in  real  estate  leads  workmen  to  prefer  investing 
in  homes. 

When  we  consider  the  vast  sums  invested 
by  the  workers  in  homes,  insurance,  cooperative 
and  friendly  societies,  and  in  other  ways,  and 
add  these  to  the  foregoing,  the  problem  which 
the  Socialist  writes  about  so  glibly  of  trans- 
ferring all  wealth  to  the  State,  begins  to  assume 
its  true  proportions. 

We  quote  from  "The  Service  of  Friendly 
Societies,"  by  Alexander  Cargill. 

"Here  is  as  brief  a  summary  as  possible,  of  the 
position  of  the  registered  societies  through- 
out the  country  (I  mean  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland),  as  at  the  date  of  the  last  public  return, 
namely,  31st  December,  1902.  First  of  all  we 
have  the  friendly  societies  pure  and  simple, 
including  all  their  branches,  collecting  societies. 


WEALTH  41 

benevolent  societies,  working-men's  clubs, 
medical,  etc.,  and  it  will  interest  you  to  know 
that  the  number  of  friendly  society  members  on 
the  date  mentioned  was  13,344,494,  their  funds 
at  the  same  date  being  £44,848,575.  Next, 
there  are  the  cooperative  societies  for  industries 
and  trades,  businesses,  and  land  societies.  The 
membership  of  these  was  2,054,835,  and  their 
funds  £43,328,078.  Then  we  have  the  trade 
unions,  w^hich  have  a  membership  of  1,604,812, 
and  funds  amounting  to  £5,016,408;  work- 
men's compensation  schemes,  with  a  member- 
ship of  122,441,  and  funds  £172,408;  Friends  of 
Labor  societies,  with  a  membership  of  32,684, 
and  funds  £254,426.  Coming  to  the  building 
societies,  of  which  there  are  two  kinds,  viz.,  the 
incorporated  and  the  unincorporated,  together 
these  have  a  total  membership  of  595,451,  with 
funds  amounting  to  £63,907,087.  Lastly,  we 
have  the  total  certified  trustee  and  post  office, 
people's,  and  railway  savings  banks.  These 
have  no  fewer  than  10,837,186  depositors, 
and  their  funds  amount  to  £222,677,941 .  Total- 
ing all  these  figures  together,  we  reach  an 
aggregate  membership  of  nearly  29,000,000, 
with  combined  funds  amounting  to  about 
£400,000,000  sterling." 

We  give  a  few  figures  from  the  United  States 


42 


PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 


Statistical  Abstract  of  1906,  showing  deposits  in 
postal  and  other  savings  banks  in  various 
countries  in  1905: 


Country. 

Deposits. 

Depositors. 

Average. 

Britain 

Denmark    .... 
Germany    .... 
France 

$997,000,000 
205,723.000 

2,639,590,000 
890,000,000 

11,694,000 

1,291,000* 
16,613,000 
11,768,000 

$85 
159 
159 

75 

The  aggregate  of  all  countries  which 
make  returns  is  91,273,000  depositors,  with 
$11,801,229,509.  These  enormous  sums  are 
laid  up  w^here  *' neither  moth  nor  rust  can  corrupt 
nor  thieves  break  through  and  steal."  Their 
only  danger  lies  in  the  Socialistic  aim  to  remove 
them  from  present  owners  and  transfer  them  to 
the  State,  thus  making  the  depositors'  money 
the  property  of  all.  To  return  the  deposits  to 
the  rightful  owners,  or  allow  interest  upon 
them,  would  create  a  large  capitalistic  class 
apart  from  the  general  Socialistic  community, 
which  would  involve  class  distinctions  as  before, 
fatal  to  the  Socialistic  idea. 

The  British  Islands,  w^ith  their  eleven  and  one- 
half  millions  of  depositors  and  a  population  of 
say  forty-five  millions,  have  an  average  of  a 
fraction  more  than  one  depositor  in  every  family, 

♦  Half  of  the  whole  population. 


WEALTH  43 

allowing  five  to  each.  Serious  trouble  might 
be  expected  if  the  Socialist  ceased  to  confine 
himself  to  writing  about  placing  all  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  the  State,  and  began  to  act.  Fortun- 
ately, of  this  there  is  no  danger. 

One  of  the  chief  objections  to  present-day 
Socialism  is  that  while  it  lends  itself  to  endless 
talk  it  is  yet  doomed  to  inaction  as  a  system  until 
and  unless,  human  nature  itself  is  changed  in  the 
countless  ages  to  come.  Earnest  and  good  men, 
touched  to  fine  issues,  should  not  occupy  them- 
selves grasping  at  distant  shadows  while  the  sub- 
stance, improvement  of  the  present,  lies  at  their 
feet  ready  for  treatment. 

There  are  three  classes  of  men.  The  first 
are  born  in  poverty,  and  probably  have  to  see 
the  hariowing  sight  of  father  and  mother,  sister 
and  brother,  suffering  from  want.  As  a  holy 
duty  they  resolve  to  drive  the  wolf  from  the 
door  and  make  fortunes.  Young  men  with  such 
experience  go  into  the  world  resolved  to  win  — 
they  must  win,  and  the  business  life  furnishes 
their  best  chance  of  victory  in  our  time.  Their 
foot  once  upon  the  ladder,  it  was  comparatively 
easy  climbing  even  in  Britain  until  recent  times 
for  it  was  the  centre  of  material  development  in 
the  early  part  of  last  century.  In  America  it  has 
long  been  and  still  is  much  easier  to  accumulate 


44  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

wealth  than  elsewhere.  The  Republic  is  soon 
to  dwarf  all  other  civilised  countries  in  wealth 
and  population.  It  is  the  land  of  millionaires, 
and  the  new  genus  of  multi-millionaire  has  just 
made  its  appearance  there.  Notwithstanding 
this,  what  has  been  said  of  the  professional  classes 
is  eminently  true  of  those  of  the  Republic.  Its 
best  men  and  women  have  little  in  common  with 
the  makers  and  possessors  of  vast  fortunes  as  a 
class;  not  that  those  born  in  poverty  should  not 
aspire  to  higher  positions  enabling  them  to 
influence  others  more  potently  for  good,  not 
that  they  should  not  *' gather  gear  by  every 
wile  that 's  justified  by  honor,"  for  it  is,  as  a 
rule,  only  after  man  has  provided  for  himself 
and  family  that  he  can  be  of  much  lasting  good 
to  others.  He  must  surely  recognise  this  to  be 
his  jirst  duty.  *'But  if  any  provide  not  for  his 
own,  and  specially  for  those  of  his  own  house, 
he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an 
infidel."  A  few,  a  very  few,  exceptional  men 
and  women  appear  at  intervals  in  the  world  who 
seemingly  need  to  take  little  thought  of  them- 
selves or  those  dependent  upon  them;  their 
fellows  are  captivated  with  their  devotion  to  the 
general  weal,  and  provide  for  them;  but  such 
characters  are  rare,  and  as  a  rule  it  is  necessary 
for  all  to  take  care  of  themselves  as  the  first  duty. 


WEALTH  45 

The  never-to-be-forgotten  truth  is  that  huge 
fortunes,  so  far  as  their  owners  are  concerned, 
are  as  useless  as  the  Star  and  Garter  are  to  their 
possessors,  and  not  so  ornamental;  and  this 
truth  above  all,  that  these  fortunes  cannot  give 
their  owners  more  out  of  life  worth  having,  than 
is  secured  by  a  competence  so  modest,  that  men 
beginning  as  workers  can,  with  health,  ability, 
and  sobriety,  win  for  old  age.  We  have  prom- 
inent instances  of  this  among  the  working-men 
Members  of  Parliament  scattered  throughout 
Britain,  America,  Canada,  and  Australasia. 
John  Burns,  Cabinet  Minister,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  working-men;  the  late  Sir  William 
Randal  Cremer;  Thomas  Burt;  and  others, 
stand  at  the  head.  Several  have  reached  the 
highest  office  upon  earth  —  the  Presidency  of 
the  majority  of  the  EngUsh-speaking  people. 
This  is  only  what  we  have  a  right  to  expect, 
for  not  a  few  of  the  greatest  geniuses  have  been 
manual  workers.  In  new  countries  millions 
of  men  who  began  as  manual  workers  have 
achieved  moderate  competence.  Almost  without 
exception  the  millionaires  of  to-day  have  made 
their  millions.  It  goes  without  saying  they  had 
to  be  very  economical  at  first,  and  neither  drank, 
smoked,  nor  gambled.  One,  when  asked  how 
he  made  his  first  thousand,  replied. 


46  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

"That's  very  simple;    I  didn't  spend  it." 
The  second  class  of  men  court  fame  —  not 
so  mercenary  but  vainer  than  the  first  —  their 
sole  desire  expressed  by  Hotspur  — 

"Methinks  it  were  an  easy  task 
To  pluck  bright  honor  from  yon  pale-faced  moon, 
Or  at  a  bound  to  dive  into  the  vasty  deep 
And  drag  up  drowned  honor  by  the  locks 
So  I  might  without  co-rival  wear  all  her  dignities." 

And  so  the  vain  peacock  struts  across  the  stage. 
The  third  class  appears  murmuring  — 

"  I  go  forth  among  men,  armored  in  a  pure  intent. 
Great  work  is  to  be  done,  and  whether  I  stand  or  crownless  fall, 
It  matters  not,  so  God's  work  be  done. 
For  I  have  learned  to  prize  the  hghtning  deed. 
Nor  heed  the  thunder  following  after  which  men  call  fame." 

To  this  class  may  belong  every  honest,  earnest, 
sober,  brotherly  working-man  who  plays  well 
the  part  assigned  him.  It  is  a  truth  that  should 
be  pondered  over  by  all,  that  for  failure  in  life 
as  a  rule  ''the  fault  is  not  in  our  stars  but  in 
ourselves." 

We  must  all  learn  the  great  truth  that  only 
competence  is  desirable,  almost  necessary, 
wealth  non-essential,  and  when  it  does  come  it 
is  only  a  sacred  trust  to  be  administered 
for  the  general  good. 

When  this  lesson  is  truly  learnt  the  thirst 
for  wealth  will  lessen,  and  it  will  cease  to  be  the 


WEALTH  47 

object  of  keen  pursuit  by  men  in  general,  which 
it  never  has  been  with  professional  classes. 
People  will  soon  see  that  it  does  not  bring  happi- 
ness to  its  possessors  and  is  generally  injurious 
to  their  children.  The  wise  man  engaged  in 
business  will  seek  only  a  moderate  competence 
and  then  devote  himself  to  public  affairs,  labor- 
ing for  the  good  of  others,  especially  in  his  own 
community. 

The  writer  has  had  occasion  to  visit  many 
cities  and  meet  the  civic  authorities  —  Mayors 
and  members  of  Councils.  Deeply  impressed 
he  has  been  with  their  characters  and  abilities, 
and  especially  with  the  large  number  who  have 
risen  from  the  ranks  of  the  poor  to  eminence  — 
not  seldom  the  Mayor  has  done  so.  Much  of 
their  time  is  devoted  to  the  careful  management 
of  municipal  affairs  although  few  have  ceased 
to  pursue  their  regular  occupations.  They  are 
happy  in  leading  useful,  worthy  lives,  conscious 
that  they  labor  no  longer  solely  for  themselves 
but  for  their  less  fortunate  fellows.  It  is  cheer- 
ing to  find  that  working  men  can  and  do  rise  so 
often  to  high  positions  and  perform  great  pub- 
lic service  in  their  maturer  years.  Useful  and 
happy  lives  these  men  lead,  striving  in  their 
later  years  to  improve  the  conditions  of  life  for 
their  neighbors,  thus  making  one  little  spot  of 


48  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

earth  just  a  little  better  than  they  found  it,  that 
spot  in  many  cases  the  dearest  spot  on  earth  to 
them  —  the  spot  where  they  were  born.  For 
useful  service  to  others,  for  personal  happiness 
and  sweetest  satisfaction,  for  all  that  makes  life 
desirable  and  hallows  departure  at  last,  million- 
aires as  a  class  have  good  cause  to  envy  the  Town 
Councillors.  Mayors,  Provosts,  and  Councilmen 
should  hesitate  long  before  desiring  exchange 
of  positions  even  with  multi-millionaires.  There 
is  nothing  inherently  valuable  in  mere  money 
worth  striving  for,  unless  it  is  to  be  administered 
as  a  sacred  trust  for  the  good  of  others;  other- 
wise the  moderate  competence  suflSces  to  give 
to  honored  old  age  the  crown. 


Labor 


LABOR 

THE  UPWARD  MARCH  OF  LABOR 

THE  progress  of  man  from  the  earliest  day 
up  to  the  present  has  been  one  steady 
march  upward,  now  and  then  in  divers  regions 
seemingly  checked,  receding  for  the  moment, 
only  to  be  swept  onward  again  like  the  waves  by 
the  advancing  tide. 

If  it  were  still  thought  that  the  Unknown 
had  made  man  perfect,  but  with  an  instinct 
for  his  own  degradation  which  ensured  his 
fall,  a  call  to  return  to  the  past  would  not 
have  been  astonishing,  but  when  we  in  our 
enlightened  age  know  that  man  is  an  out- 
growth from  lower  orders  of  life,  and  has 
implanted  within  him  the  instinct  which  compels 
him  to  turn  his  face  to  the  sun  and  slowly  move 
upward  toward  that  which  is  better,  rejecting 
in  his  progress,  after  test,  all  that  injures  or 
debases,  the  call  upon  us  by  our  Socialistic 
friends  to  exchange  the  individualistic  civilized 
present   which    we   have   reached   after   many 

51 


52  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  of  progress,  for 
the  system  of  communism  of  the  savage  past, 
is  indeed  starthng.  There  is  no  phase  of  human 
existence  upon  which  we  look  to-day  which  does 
not  show  encouraging  improvement  over  the 
past.  This  progress  made,  in  obedience  to  the 
very  nature  of  man,  created  to  ascend,  in  intelH- 
gence,  tastes  and  conduct,  has  made  all  the 
difference  between  the  savage  and  the  civilised 
being. 

Let  us  never  forget  that  under  present  condi- 
tions the  world  has  grown  and  is  growing 
better,  and  we  steadily  approach  nearer  the 
ideal.  Never  was  there  so  much  of  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood  among  men,  never  so  much 
kindness,  never  so  much  help  extended  by  men, 
and  especially  by  women,  to  their  less  fortunate 
fellows.  The  writer  scarcely  knows  a  family 
intimately  of  which  one  or  more  members  are 
not  earnestly  engaged  spending  their  time  and 
means  in  doing  good,  thus  giving  not  only  their 
wealth,  but  themselves,  to  make  brighter  and 
better  the  lives  of  the  less  fortunate.  There  are 
many  of  his  acquaintances  treading  the  path 
that  leads  to  making  earth  a  heaven,  less  solici- 
tous about  *' heaven  our  home"  than  hitherto, 
but  more  about  making  **home  our  heaven" 
here  in  this  life. 


LABOR  53 

Many  indeed  in  our  day  will  merit  the 
epitaph  — 

"If  there's  another  world,  he  lives  in  bliss; 
If  there  be  none,  he  made  the  best  of  this." 

It  is  not,  therefore,  to  the  savage  past  that 
we  should  look  for  guidance.  The  part  of  wis- 
dom is  to  hold  fast  to  that  which  has  proved 
itself  good,  and  to  keep  on  as  we  have  been 
doing.  Marching  upward,  the  race  is  not  led 
by  the  multitude  but  by  the  few  exceptional 
natures,  just  as  all  orders  of  vegetation  have 
been  and  are  improved  by  the  exceptional 
plants,  from  the  sour  crab  to  the  apple  of  to- 
day; from  the  love-apple  in  America  of  a  past 
generation  to  our  succulent  tomato.  Except- 
ional plants  arose,  and  from  these  came  others. 
So  in  the  animal  kingdom;  from  the  wolf 
came  the  collie  dog;  from  a  five-toed  rude 
progenitor,  the  horse.  All  breeders  perpetuate 
the  best. 

Now  in  this  progress  the  laborer  has  not 
failed  to  share  with  the  employer.  If  we 
contrast  what  he  is  with  what  he  was,  the  dif- 
ference is  gre^t.  He  was  once  slave,  then  serf 
who  did  manual  labor;  up  to  a  century  ago 
he  was  still  a  villein  and  was  sold  with  the  mine 
—  that  is,  he  could  not  leave  it  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  proprietor.     Till   recent   times  hie 


54  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

was  not  paid  in  cash.  Now  he  is  a  freeman,  and 
sells  the  labor  the  mine-owner  buys,  both 
equally  independent.  In  Dunfermline  some 
time  ago.  the  writer  visited  the  cottage  gardens 
for  which  prizes  are  given,  with  the  Secretary 
of  the  Horticultural  Society,  who  is  a  working 
coal-miner  and  a  credit  to  Labor.  He  remarked 
that  the  masters  and  miners  were  that  day 
conferring  upon  the  wage  question.  ''Only 
a  hundred  years  ago,''  the  writer  replied,  *'your 
forefathers  would  have  been  transferred  with 
the  mines  in  case  of  sale.  Now  masters  and 
men  meet  to-day  as  equals,  buyers,  and  sellers. 
What  would  be  thought  if  the  masters  proposed 
a  return  to  the  old  conditions.?"  With  a 
twinkle  in  the  eye,  never  to  be  forgotten,  came 
the  words,  **Ay,  there  wud  be  twa  at  that 
bargain,  I  'm  thinkin',^'  With  their  trades 
unions,  cash  payments,  —  masters  of  themselves, 
and  their  labor,  —  it  is  clear  that  working-men 
have  shared  in  the  general  advance.  The  wand 
of  progress  has  not  passed  them  by  untouched, 
nor  are  we  without  evidence  that  the  march  of 
their  improvement  is  not  to  stop. 

Following  the  same  course  with  "Labor" 
as  with  "Wealth,"  the  writer  will  make  free 
use  of  what  he  has  said  in  years  gone  by  rather 
than  give  his  views  in  new  form,   since   they 


LABOR  55 

remain  to-day  substantially  as  they  were  then 
expressed. 

From  "An  Employer's  View  of  the  Labor 
Question,"    Forum,    April    1886: 

The  influence  of  trades  unions  upon  the 
relations  between  the  employer  and  employed 
has  been  much  discussed.  Some  establishments 
in  America  have  refused  to  recognise  the  right 
of  the  men  to  form  themselves  into  these  unions 
although  I  am  not  aware  that  any  concern  in 
England  would  dare  to  take  this  position.  This 
policy,  however,  may  be  regarded  as  only  a 
temporary  phase  of  the  situation.  The  right 
of  the  working-men  to  combine  and  to  form 
trades  unions  is  no  less  sacred  than  the  right 
of  the  manufacturer  to  enter  into  associations 
and  conferences  with  his  fellowsj  and  it  must 
be  sooner  or  later  conceded.  Indeed,  it  gives 
one  but  a  poor  opinion  of  the  American  work 
man  if  he  permits  himself  to  be  deprived  of  a 
right  which  his  fellow  in  England  has  con- 
quered for  himself  long  since.  My  experience 
has  been  that  trades  unions  upon  the  whole 
are  beneficial  both  to  Labor  and  to  Capital 
They  certainly  educate  the  working-men  and 
give  them  a  truer  conception  of  the  relations 
of  Capital  and  Labor  than  they  could  other- 
wise   form.     The    ablest    and    best    workmen 


56  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

eventually  come  to  the  front  in  these  organisa- 
tions; and  it  may  be  laid  down  as  a  rule  that 
the  more  intelligent  the  workman  the  fewer  the 
contests  with  employers.  It  is  not  the  intelli- 
gent workman  —  who  knows  that  Labor  with- 
out his  brother  Capital  is  helpless  —  but  the 
blatant  ignorant  man,  who  regards  Capital 
as  the  natural  enemy  of  Labor,  who  does  so 
much  to  embitter  the  relations  between  employer 
and  employed;  and  the  power  of  this  ignorant 
demagogue  arises  chiefly  from  the  lack  of 
proper  organisation  among  the  men  , through 
which  their  real  voice  can  be  expressed.  This 
voice  will  always  be  found  in  favor  of  the  judi- 
cious and  intelligent  representative.  Of  course, 
as  men  become  intelligent  more  deference  must 
be  paid  to  them  personally  and  to  their  rights, 
and  even  to  their  opinions  and  prejudices; 
and  upon  the  whole  a  greater  share  of  profits 
must  be  paid  in  the  day  of  prosperity  to  the 
intelligent  than  to  the  ignorant  workman.  He 
cannot  be  imposed  upon  so  readily.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  will  be  found  much  readier  to 
accept  reduced  compensation  when  business 
is  depressed ;  and  it  is  better  in  the  long  run  for 
Capital  to'  be  served  by  the  highest  intelligence, 
and  to  be  made  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  it 
is  dealing  with  men  who  know  what  is  due  to 


LABOR  57 

them,  both  as  to  treatment  and  compensation. 
.  .  .  I  therefore  recognise  in  trades  unions, 
or,  better  still,  in  organisations  of  the  men 
of  each  establishment,  who  select  representa- 
tives to  speak  for  them,  a  means  not  of  further 
embittering  the  relations  between  employer  and 
employed,  but  of  improving  them. 

It  is  astonishing  how  small  a  sacrifice  upon 
the  part  of  the  employer  will  sometimes  greatly 
benefit  the  men.  I  remember  that  at  one 
of  our  meetings  with  a  committee,  it  was  inci- 
dentally remarked  by  one  speaker  that  the 
necessity  for  obtaining  credit  at  the  stores  in 
the  neighborhood  was  a  grave  tax  upon  the 
men.  An  ordinary  workman,  he  said,  could 
not  afford  to  maintain  himself  and  family  for 
a  month,  and,  as  he  only  received  his  pay 
monthly,  he  was  compelled  to  obtain  credit,  and 
to  pay  exorbitantly  for  everything;  whereas, 
if  he  had  the  cash,  he  could  buy  in  Pittsburg 
at  25  per  cent.  less.  '*Well,"  I  said,  **why 
cannot  we  overcome  that  by  paying  every  two 
weeks  .^"  The  reply  was,  *'We  did  not  like 
to  ask  it,  because  we  have  always  understood 
that  it  would  cause  much  trouble;  but,  if  you 
do  that,  it  will  be  worth  an  advance  of  5  per  cent, 
in  our  wages."  We  have  paid  semi-monthly 
since.     To   avoid   the   excessive   prices   of  the 


58  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

small  stores  I  suggested  a  cooperative  society, 
which  was  promptly  formed,  the  first  in  the 
region.  Another  speaker  happened  to  say  that, 
although  they  were  in  the  midst  of  coal,  the  price 
charged  for  small  lots  delivered  at  their  houses 
was  a  certain  sum  per  bushel.  The  price 
named  was  double  what  our  best  coal  was 
costing  us.  How  easy  for  us  to  deliver  to  our 
men  such  coal  as  they  required,  and  charge 
them  cost!  This  was  done  without  a  cent's 
loss  to  us,  but  with  much  gain  to  the  men. 
Several  other  points  similar  to  these  have 
arisen,  by  which  their  labors  might  be  lightened 
or  products  increased,  and  others  suggesting 
changes  in  machinery  or  facilities,  which,  but 
for  the  conferences  referred  to,  would  have  been 
unthought  of  by  the  employer,  and  probably 
never  asked  for  by  the  men.  For  these  and 
other  reasons  I  attribute  the  greatest  importance 
to  an  organisation  of  the  men,  through  whose 
duly-elected  representatives  the  managers  may 
be  kept  informed  from  time  to  time  of  their 
grievances  and  suggestions.  No  matter  how 
able  the  manager,  the  clever  workman  can 
often  show  him  how  beneficial  changes  can  be 
made  in  the  special  branch  in  which  that  work- 
man labors.  Unless  the  relations  between 
manager  and  workmen  are  not  only  amicable 


LABOR  59 

but  friendly,  the  owners  miss  much;  nor  is  any 
man  a  first-class  manager  who  has  not  the  con- 
fidence and  respect,  and  even  the  admiration, 
of  his  workmen.  No  man  is  a  true  gentleman 
who  does  not  inspire  the  affection  and  devotion 
of  his  servants.     .     .     . 

Wliatever  the  future  may  have  in  store  for 
Labor,  the  evolutionist,  who  sees  nothing  but 
certain  and  steady  progress  for  the  race,  will 
never  attempt  to  set  bounds  to  its  triumphs, 
even  to  its  final  form  of  complete  and  universal 
industrial  cooperation,  which  I  hope  is  some 
day  to  be  reached. 

The  following  extract  is  from  an  address 
delivered  on  opening  the  Library  presented 
to  the  workmen  of  Homestead  (1898): 

A  partnership  of  three  is  required  in  the 
industrial  world  w^hen  an  enterprise  is  planned. 
The  first  of  these,  not  in  importance,  but  in 
time,  is  Capital.  Without  it  nothing  costly 
can  be  built.  From  it  comes  the  first  breath 
of  life  into  matter,  previously  inert. 

The  structures  reared  by  outside  workmen, 
equipped  and  ready  to  begin  in  any  line  of 
industrial  activity,  the  second  partner  comes 
into  operation.  That  is  Business  Ability., 
Capital  has  done  its  part.  It  has  provided 
all  the  instruments  of  production;  but  unless 


60  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

it  can  command  the  services  of  able  men  to 
manage  the  business,  all  that  Capital  has  done 
crumbles  into  ruin. 

Then  comes  the  third  partner  in  the  works, 
last  in  order  of  time,  but  not  least,  Skilled 
Labor.  If  it  fail  to  perform  its  part,  nothing 
can  be  accomplished.  Capital  and  Business 
Ability  brought  into  play  without  it,  are  dead. 
The  wheels  cannot  revolve  unless  Skilled  Labor 
starts  them. 

Now,  volumes  can  be  written  as  to  which 
one  of  the  three  partners  is  first,  second,  or 
third  in  importance,  and  the  subject  will  remain 
just  as  it  was  before.  Political  economists, 
speculative  philosophers  and  preachers,  have 
been  giving  their  views  on  the  subject  for 
hundreds  of  years,  but  the  answer  has  not  yet 
been  found,  nor  can  it  ever  be,  because  each 
of  the  three  is  all-important,  and  every  one  is 
equally  essential  to  the  other  two.  Labor, 
Capital,  and  Ability  are  a  three-legged  stool. 
There  is  no  first,  second,  or  last.  There  is 
no  precedence!  They  are  equal  members  of 
the  great  triple  alliance  which  moves  the  indus- 
trial world. 

We  have  seen  the  position  which  Labor  has 
reached  in  our  day.  Employee  and  employer 
meet  upon  equal  terms.     It  was  the  writer's 


LABOR  61 

province  to  confer  with  Labor  for  twenty-six 
years,  and  the  more  he  knew  of  the  working-men 
the  higher  they  rose  in  his  estimation  and 
regard.  Sometimes,  but  not  often,  the  worker 
may  be  misled  by  extreme  men;  but,  as  a  rule, 
a  majority  can  always  be  depended  upon  to  be 
fair  and  reasonable.  The  following  are  extracts 
from  an  article  the  writer  published  in  the 
Forum,  April  and  August  1886: 

A  strike  or  lock-out  is,  in  itself,  a  ridiculous 
affair.  WTiether  a  failure  or  a  success,  it  gives 
no  direct  proof  of  its  justice  or  injustice.  In 
this  it  resembles  war  between  tw^o  nations. 
It  is  simply  a  question  of  strength  and  endurance 
between  the  contestants.  The  gage  of  battle 
or  the  duel  is  not  more  senseless  as  a  means 
of  establishing  what  is  just  and  fair  than  an 
industrial  strike  or  lock-out.  It  would  be  folly 
to  conclude  that  we  have  reached  any  permanent 
adjustment  between  Capital  and  Labor  until 
strikes  and  lock-outs  are  as  much  things  of  the 
past  as  the  gage  of  battle  or  the  duel  have  be- 
come in  the  most  advanced  communities.    .     .     . 

Among  the  expedients  suggested  for  their 
better  reconciliation,  the  first  place  must  be 
assigned  to  the  idea  of  cooperation,  or  the  plan 
by  which  the  workers  are  to  become  part  owners 
in  enterprises,  and  share  their  fortunes.     There 


62  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

is  no  doubt  that  if  this  could  be  effected  it 
would  have  the  same  beneficial  effect  upon  the 
workman  which  the  ownership  of  land  has 
upon  the  man  who  has  hitherto  tilled  the  land 
for  another.  The  sense  of  ownership  would 
make  of  him  more  of  a  man  as  regards  himself, 
and  hence  more  of  a  citizen  as  regards  the 
commonwealth.     . 

While  public  sentiment  has  rightly  and 
unmistakably  condemned  violence,  even  in  the 
form  for  which  there  is  the  most  excuse,  I 
would  have  the  public  give  due  consideration 
to  the  terrible  temptation  to  which  the  working- 
man  on  a  strike  is  sometimes  subjected.  To 
expect  that  one  dependent  upon  his  daily  wage 
for  the  necessaries  of  life  will  stand  by  peaceably 
and  see  a  new  man  employed  in  his  stead  is 
to  expect  much.  This  poor  man  may  have  a 
wife  and  children  dependent  upon  his  labor. 
\Miether  medicine  for  a  sick  child,  or  even 
nourishing  food  for  a  delicate  wife,  is  procurable, 
depends  upon  his  steady  employment.  In  all 
but  a  very  few  departments  of  labor  it  is  unnec- 
essary, and,  I  think,  improper,  to  subject  men 
to  such  an  ordeal.  In  the  case  of  railways  and 
a  few  other  employments  it  is,  of  course,  essen- 
tial for  the  public  wants  that  no  interruption 
occur,   and   in   such   case   substitutes   must   be 


LABOR  63 

employed;  but  the  employer  of  labor  will  find 
it  much  more  to  his  interest,  wherever  possible 
to  allow  his  works  to  remain  idle  and  await  the 
result  of  a  dispute,  than  to  employ  the  class  of 
men  that  can  be  induced  to  take  the  place  of 
other  men  who  have  stopped  work.  Neither 
the  best  men  as  men,  nor  the  best  men  as 
workers,  are  thus  to  be  obtained.  There  is 
an  unwritten  law  among  the  best  workmen: 
**Thou  shalt  not  take  thy  neighbor's  job."  No 
wise  employer  will  lightly  lose  his  old  employees. 
Length  of  service  counts  for  much  in  many  ways. 
Calling  upon  strange  men  should  be  the  last 
resort. 

The  writer  never  attempted  to  run  works 
with  new  men.  In  his  opinion,  strikes  generally 
arise  not  so  much  owing  to  disputes  about 
wages  as  to  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  one 
party  by  the  other.  The  employer  does  not 
know  the  men  and  their  point  of  view  and  their 
troubles,  and  the  men  do  not  know  their  em- 
ployer and  his  troubles.  Neither  does  the 
employer  know  the  virtues  of  the  working-man, 
nor  the  working-man  the  good  qualities  of  the 
employer.  Each  looks  only  at  one  side  of  the 
problem.  Lack  of  proper  recognition  of  the 
workers  by  the  employers  as  fellow-men  causes 
most  of  the  labor  disputes.     In  domestic  service, 


64  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

where  the  two  classes,  employer  and  employed, 
do  get  to  know  each  other  as  men  and  women, 
there  are  few  quarrels,  simply  because  each 
finds  the  other  possessed  of  many  endearing 
traits.  Few  are  the  families  in  which  are  not 
found  valued  servants  living  in  their  old  age 
as  members  of  the  household,  or  pensioned 
and  living  near  by  in  their  cottages  —  often 
visited. 

THE  FINAL    RELATION    BETWEEN 
CAPITAL  AND  LABOR 

LABOR   AND    CAPITAL   PARTNERS 

While  we  have  said  that  Labor  has  shared 
in  the  progress  of  the  race,  considering  from 
whence  it  started  and  the  position  it  now  occu- 
pies, it  cannot  be  claimed  that  conditions  are 
satisfactory  as  they  exist.  In  the  future.  Labor 
is  to  rise  still  higher.  The  joint-stock  form  opens 
the  door  to  the  participation  of  Labor  as  share- 
holders in  every  branch  of  business.  In  this, 
the  writer  believes,  lies  the  final  and  enduring 
solution  of  the  Labor  question.  The  Carnegie 
Steel  Company  made  a  beginning  by  making 
from  time  to  time  forty-odd  young  partners, 
only  one  was  related  to  the  original  partners, 
but  all  were  selected  upon  their  proved  merits 


LABOR  65 

after  long  service.  None  contributed  a  penny. 
Their  notes  were  accepted,  payable  only  out 
of  the  profits  of  the  business.  Great  care  was 
taken  to  admit  workers  of  the  mechanical 
department,  which  had  hitherto  been  neglected 
by  employers.  The  first  time  a  superintendent 
of  one  of  the  works  was  made  a  partner  attracted 
attention,  but  as  we  kept  on  admitting  men  who 
had  risen  from  the  ranks  as  mechanics,  we 
found  it  more  and  more  advantageous.  The 
superintendents  now  sat  in  conference  at  the 
board  with  the  managers  in  the  office.  From 
this  policy  sprang  the  custom  of  bonuses 
awarded  yearly  to  men  in  subordinate  positions 
who  had  done  exceptional  work.  This  class 
naturally  felt  that  they  were  on  the  upward 
road  to  admission  as  partners;  their  feet  upon 
the  ladder. 

The  problem  presented  by  the  combina- 
tion of  many  steelworks  into  the  one 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  was  not  alto- 
gether new,  for  individual  and  corporate  man- 
agement have  co-existed  since  joint-stock 
companies  were  formed.  The  former  had 
undoubtedly  great  advantages  over  the  latter. 
Able  men  managing  their  own  works,  in  com- 
petition with  large  bodies  of  shareholders 
employing  salaried  managers,   were  certain  to 


66  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

distance  their  corporate  competitors,  and  did 
so.  Nothing  can  stand  against  the  direct 
management  of  owners.  The  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  reahsed  this,  and  as  a  sub- 
stitute resolved  to  adopt  the  policy  of  interesting 
its  officers  and  employees  in  its  shares.  Some 
plan  of  profit-sharing  was  soon  seen  to  present 
the  best,  and  indeed  the  only,  substitute  for 
individual  management.  This  idea  the  writer 
highly  approved  in  his  Presidential  Address 
to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  in  London,  in 
1903,  but  ventured  to  point  out  one  serious 
defect.  The  investments  in  the  shares  of  the 
company  proposed  to  the  men  were  to  be  at  the 
risk  of  the  purchasers.  We  added  that  "this 
seems  a  feature  we  may,  however,  expect  the 
Corporation  to  change  as  experience  is  gained." 
^  ** Every  employee  a  shareholder"  would  pre- 
vent most  of  the  disputes  between  Capital  and 
Labor,  and  this  chiefly  because  of  the  feeling 
of  mutuality  w^hich  would  be  created,  now, 
alas!  generally  lacking.  To  effect  this,  every 
corporation  could  well  afford  to  sell  shares 
to  its  saving  workmen,  giving  preference  in 
repayment  at  cost  as  a  first  charge  in  case  of 
disaster,  just  as  present  laws  provide  first  for 
the  mechanic's  lien  and  for  homestead  exemp- 
tion.    This   is   due   to   the   working-man,   who 


LABOR  67 

necessarily  buys  the  shares  without  knowledge, 
and  he  is  asked  to  buy  them,  not  solely  for  his 
own  advantage,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
pany as  well  —  the  advantage  of  both.  This 
view,  as  expressed  by  the  writer  in  the  Address 
referred  to,  we  rejoice  to  say,  has  been  adapted 
by  the  Steel  Corporation,  and  its  last  offer  of 
shares  guarantees  the  men  against  loss. 

The  managerial  department  is  given  bonuses 
every  year  upon  the  profits  of  the  concern. 

All  this  w^as  hailed  by  the  waiter  with  intense 
delight,  as  in  his  day-dreams  he  had  often 
meditated  upon  the  plan  of  employees  becom- 
ing joint  owners  with  himself  and  partners. 
Perhaps  he  may  be  permitted  to  quote  from 
the  Address  referred  to  (May,  1903,  London) : 

I  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  this  experiment, 
nor  give  the  Steel  Company  too  much  credit 
for  making  it,  since  it  is  declared  to  be  in  the 
experimental  stage,  and  subject  to  future 
improvement,  as  all  new  schemes  should  be. 
Its  able  and  progressive  author,  Mr.  George 
W.  Perkins,  is  to  be  heartily  congratulated. 

Thus  we  see,  gentlemen,  that  the  world 
moves  on  step  by  step  toward  better  conditions. 
Just  as  the  mechanical  world  has  changed  and 
improved,  so  the  world  of  labor  has  advanced 
from  the  slavery  of  the  laborer  to  the  day  of 


68  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

his  absolute  independence,  and  now  to  this 
day,  when  he  begins  to  take  his  proper  place 
as  the  capitalist-partner  of  his  employer.  We 
may  look  forward  with  hope  to  the  day  when  it 
shall  be  the  rule  for  the  workman  to  be  Partner 
with  Capital,  the  man  of  affairs  giving  his 
business  experience,  the  working-man  in  the 
mill  his  mechanical  skill,  to  the  company,  both 
owners  of  the  shares  and  so  far  equally  interested 
in  the  success  of  their  joint  efforts,  each  indis- 
pensable, and  without  whose  cooperation  suc- 
cess would  be  impossible.  It  is  a  splendid 
vista  along  which  we  are  permitted  to  gaze. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  considered  much  too 
sanguine  in  this  forecast,  which  no  doubt  will 
take  time  to  realise,  but  as  the  result  of  my 
experience  I  am  convinced  that  the  huge 
combination,  and  even  the  moderate  corporation, 
has  no  chance  in  competition  with  the  partner- 
ship which  embraces  the  principal  officials 
and  has  adopted  the  system  of  payment  by 
bonus  or  reward  throughout  its  works.  The 
latter  may  be  relied  upon,  as  a  rule,  to  earn 
handsome  dividends  in  times  of  depression, 
during  which  the  former,  conducted  upon  the 
old  plan,  will  incur  actual  loss,  and  perhaps 
land  in  financial  embarrassment.  In  speaking 
of  corporations  we  must  not  forget,  however, 


LABOR  69 

that  there  are  many  which  are  corporations 
in  name  only,  their  management  being  the  life 
work  of  few  owners.  These  rank  with  part- 
nerships, having  all  the  advantages  of  this 
form.  The  true  corporation  is  that  whose 
shares  are  upon  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  whose 
real  owners  change  constantly  and  are  often 
unknown  even  to  the  president  and  directors, 
while  to  the  workmen  they  are  mere  abstrac- 
tions. It  is  impossible  to  infuse  through  their 
ranks  the  sentiment  of  personal  regard  and 
loyalty  in  all  its  wonderful  power.  The  step 
taken  by  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
is  therefore  no  surprise  to  me,  for  I  have  long 
believed  that  such  corporations  would  be  com- 
pelled to  adopt  the  best  attainable  substitute 
for  the  personal  factor  of  the  older  system,  or 
suffer.  In  the  sagacious  policy  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  I  see  proof  of  that 
opinion,  nor  can  I  suggest  a  better  form  than 
that  it  has  adopted,  always  provided  the 
working-man  shareholder  be  secured  against 
loss. 

In  the  percentage  allotted  by  the  plan  to 
reward  exceptional  officials  we  have  for  the 
huge  corporation  perhaps  the  best  substitute 
attainable  for  the  magic  of  partnership,  which 
nothing,  however,  can  approach.     The  reward 


70  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

of  departmental  officials  may  readily  be  secured 
under  this  provision.  In  the  bonus  granted 
yearly  upon  shares  held  by  the  employees  we 
have  proof  of  regard  for  them  which  cannot  but 
tell,  and  the  distribution  of  shares  in  the  con- 
cern among  them  gives  an  advantage  which 
so  far  no  partnership  even  has  enjoyed.  The 
latter  will  no  doubt  adopt  the  plan,  or  find 
some  equivalent,  for  the  workman  owning  shares 
in  absolute  security  will  prove  much  more 
valuable  than  one  without  such  interest,  and 
many  incidental  advantages  will  accrue  to  the 
company  possessed  of  numerous  shareholding 
employees  who  may  some  day  see  their  repre- 
sentative welcomed  to  the  board  of  directors. 
This  would  prove  most  conducive  to  harmony, 
knowledge  of  each  other  on  the  part  of  owners 
and  workmen  being  the  best  preventive  of 
dissatisfaction.  If  the  investment  of  the 
workers'  savings  be  made  secure,  the  rapid 
extension  of  the  plan  seems  certain,  and  can 
be  hailed  with  unalloyed  satisfaction;  but  in 
its  present  form  it  is  obviously  incapable  of 
general  application,  since  the  officials  of  few 
corporations  could  or  would  incur  the  responsi- 
bility of  inducing  their  workmen  to  invest  in 
their  shares  as  a  security,  and  few  corporations 
could  or  should  inspire  the  needed  confidence 


LABOR  71 

of  labor  that  these  are  to  enjoy  an  unbroken 
career  of  prosperity,  for  such  has  not  been  the 
history  of  manufacturing  concerns  generally, 
especially  in  our  field,  to  which  we  may  well 
apply  the  well-known  lines  of  Hudibras: 

"  Ay  me !  what  perils  do  environ 
The  man  that  meddles  with  cold  iron." 

The  idea  of  making  workmen  shareholders, 
and  dividing  a  percentage  of  the  profits  among 
those  rendering  exceptional  service,  will  prob- 
ably encounter  the  opposition  of  the  extremists 
on  both  sides,  the  violent  revolutionist  of 
capitalistic  conditions,  and  the  narrow,  grasping 
employer  whose  creed  is  to  purchase  his  labor 
as  he  does  his  materials,  paying  the  price  agreed 
upon  and  ending  there.  But  this  opposition 
will,  we  believe,  amount  to  little.  It  will  even 
speak  well  for  the  new  idea  if  scouted  by  the 
extremists  and  commended  by  the  mass  of  men 
who  are  on  neither  dangerous  edge,  but  in  the 
middle,  where  usually  lies  wisdom. 

Meanwhile,  here  is  the  germ  of  a  promising 
plan  offered  as  a  solution  for  one  of  the  pressing 
problems  of  our  age,  which  may  prove  capable 
of  development.  Let  us  receive,  study,  and 
discuss  it  with  open  mind.  That  the  problem 
w41l  be  solved  and  that  the  two  factors  are  some 
day  to  live  in  friendly  cooperation,  let  no  one 


72  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

doubt.  Human  society  bears  a  charmed  life. 
It  is  immortal,  and  was  born  with  the  inherent 
power  or  instinct,  as  a  law  of  its  being,  to  solve 
all  problems  finally  in  the  best  form,  and 
among  these  none  more  surely  than  that  vexed 
question  of  our  day,  the  relations  between  these 
Siamese .  Twins,  which  must  mutually  prosper 
or  mutually  decay  —  Employer  and  Employed 
—  Capital  and  Labor. 

Two  and  a  half  million  dollars  worth  of  ad- 
ditional stock  was  offered  by  the  Steel  Company 
to  workmen  this  year  (1908)  and  all  taken, 
and  twenty-five  thousand  more  of  the  employees 
applied  for  shares,  many  for  one  share  only, 
and  these  are  to  be  provided,  so  that  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  workmen  of  this  company 
are  soon  to  be  shareholders,  i.  e.,  part  owners 
having  a  right  to  vote  with  their  fellow-proprie- 
tors, and  sharing  in  the  profits.  These  workers 
have  their  feet  upon  the  ladder,  and  are  bound 
to  rise.  They  are  very  likely  to  save  and  invest 
more  and  more.  This  is  the  answer,  reached  by 
evolution  under  present  conditions,  to  pessimists 
and  revolutionists,  which  our  Socialistic  friends 
should  ponder  well. 

The  strict  political  economist  of  our  day 
may  look  askance  at  the  idea  of  a  minimum 
wage  and  a  guarantee  for  the  workmen  against 


LABOR  73 

loss  upon  their  shares,  in  companies  in  which 
they  hold  a  minority  interest;  but  whatever 
final  form  the  merger  of  Labor  and  Capital  may 
assume  in  the  distant  future,  these  features  seem 
to  be  essential  under  present  conditions.  If 
taxation  should  be  borne  only  according  to  ability 
to  pay,  it  is  not  wholly  unreasonable  that  the 
workman  should  not  be  subject  to  loss,  for, 
having  only  a  minimum  wage,  he  has  no  ability 
to  incur  loss.  The  exemption  of  a  stated  sum 
from  income-tax  in  Britain,  and  in  America 
the  exemption  of  the  small  homestead,  are 
examples  of  this  principle. 

Should  the  workmen  hold  the  majority  of 
shares  and  really  manage  the  business,  exemp- 
tion from  sharing  loss  should  cease. 

This  is  only  a  beginning.  The  Filene  Stores 
of  Boston,  a  shareholding  company  employing 
seven  to  nine  hundred  men,  has  gone  farthest  of 
all  in  the  direction  of  making  its  employees  joint 
owners.  The  capital  stock  is  held  only  by 
employees,  and  is  returned  to  the  corporation 
at  its  value,  should  the  employee  leave  the 
service.  Every  share  of  stock  belongs  to  some 
one  working  in  the  stores.  The  most  important 
advance  is  that  all  questions  are  submitted  to 
arbitration,  not  only  complaints  or  disputes,  but 
wages,  scope  of  work,  and  tenure  of  employment. 


74  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

More  than  four  hundred  cases  of  arbitration 
have  arisen,  and  the  result  is  that  both  managers 
and  employees  have  been  satisfied  that  this  is 
the  true  plan.  When  an  employee  is  discharged 
he  has  the  right  to  appeal  to  an  arbitration  board 
composed  of  fellow  employees  of  different  grades- 
All  wage  disputes  have  been  satisfactorily  settled- 
There  is  a  profit-sharing  department,  having 
nothing  to  do  with  wages,  which  has  been 
able  to  distribute  varying  amounts  each  year. 

There  is  also  a  Welfare  Committee  of  the 
shareholders,  which  manages  a  club  house 
and  maintains  lunch  and  recreation  rooms. 
The  Insurance  Committee  furnishes  five  classes 
of  assurance  at  cost.  Two-thirds  of  the  workers 
are  insured.  The  bank  pays  5  per  cent,  upon 
deposits  of  employees,  which  are  guaranteed  by 
the  corporation.  The  Publication  Committee 
issues  a  monthly  paper.  Many  features  of  a  social 
and  educational  nature  are  enjoyed  by  the  em- 
ployees throughout  the  year,  and  an  atmosphere 
has  been  produced  of  great  value  to  the  business 
and  to  the  members. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  Filene  Stores  are 
not  excelled,  if  equalled,  in  making  profits. 
Their  goods  are  turned  over  ten  times  some 
years,  six  or  seven  times  being  the  average,  and 
the   stores   are   among   the  foremost   and   best 


LABOR  75 

known  in  Boston.  No  doubt  the  brothers  Filene 
are  remarkable  men  and  recognised  leaders  in 
this  work,  but  we  may  expect  their  example  to 
impress  others,  particularly  since  their  profit- 
sharing  and  stock-owning  plans  have  been  vindi- 
cated by  unusual  success,  from  every  point  of 
view,  particularly  in  improving  the  relations 
between  employers  and  employees. 

We  are  just  at  the  beginning  of  profit-sharing, 
and  the  reign  of  working-men  proprietors, 
which  many  indications  point  to  as  the  next  step 
forward  in  the  march  of  wage-paid  labor  to  the 
higher  stage  of  profit-sharing  —  joint  partner- 
ship —  workers  with  the  hand  and  workers  with 
the  head  paid  from  profits  —  no  dragging  of  the 
latter  down,  but  the  raising  of  the  former  up. 

We  never  see  a  fishing  fleet  sail  without 
hailing  it  as  the  finest  illustration  of  the  perfect 
relationship  which  is  one  day  to  prevail  between 
Capital  and  Labor  generally.  Every  man  in 
the  ship  from  the  captain  down  is  a  partner, 
paid  by  sharing  in  the  profits  of  the  catch,  accord- 
ing to  the.  value  of  his  labor.  Even  the  low^est 
paid,  probably  a  young  hand,  not  yet  an  able- 
bodied  seaman,  could  be  a  partner  in  the  business. 

Here  is  a  field  capable  of  immediate  and 
wide  extension  provided  employers  agree  to 
fix    a    minimum    wage    sufllcient    to    maintain. 


76  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

economically  the  worker's  household,  and 
to  this  it  is  beheved  every  fair-minded  employer 
would  gladly  agree. 

So  far  we  have  a  list  of  189  manufacturing 
concerns  in  the  United  States  which  have 
welfare  departments  —  sales  of  stock  to  work- 
men, or  other  modes  of  adding  to  their  wages,  or 
forms  recognising  the  community  of  interest 
between  employers  and  employed. 

Gilman,  in  his  book  on  profit-sharing, 
published  in  1899,  gave  the  following  numbers 
of  profit-sharing  firms  in  the  different  countries 
of  Europe: 

France 120  Italy 8 

Britain         ....       94  Holland 7 

Germany     ....       47  Belgium 6 

Switzerland .        .        .         .14  Austria-Hungary     .        .        .5 

It  will  soon  be  the  exception  for  employers 
upon  a  great  scale  to  ignore  this  feature. 
Eighteen  of  the  principal  railroad  companies 
in  America  have  established  systems  of  pensions 
for  their  employees  as  extra  recompense,  the 
cost  borne  exclusively  by  the  corporations.  The 
pension  feature,  like  profit-sharing,  is  making 
great  headway,  and  promises  soon  to  be 
universal. 

So  marches  Labor  up  the  heights,  to  equality 
with  the  millionaire  as  his  partner  in  business. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  writer's  views  are 


LABOR  77 

not  of  yesterday;  he  has  had  considerable 
experience  with  the  labor  problem,  and  thought 
much  over  it.  Whether  the  Communists'  ideal 
is  to  be  finally  reached  upon  earth,  after  man  is 
so  changed  that  self-interest,  which  is  now  the 
mainspring  of  human  action,  will  give  place  to 
heavenly  neighbor-interest  cannot  be  known. 
The  future  has  not  been  revealed.  He  who 
says  yes,  and  he  who  says  no,  are  equally  fool- 
hardy. Neither  knows,  therefore  neither  should 
presume  to  consider,  much  less  to  legislate  in 
their  day  for  a  future  they  can  know  nothing  of. 
Endowed  as  man  is  with  the  instinct  for  improve- 
ment, fortunately  no  limit  to  his  march  toward 
perfection  can  be  set,  but  what  perfection  is  to 
be  we  know  not.  The  writer,  however,  believes 
one  point  to  be  clear,  viz.  that  the  next  step 
toward  improved  labor  conditions  is  through 
the  stage  of  shareholding  in  the  industrial 
world,  the  workman  becoming  joint  owner 
in  the  profits  of  his  labor.  Payment  to  slaves 
and  serfs,  by  providing  shelter  and  food  and 
clothing  for  them,  then  by  orders  upon  the  stores 
for  articles,  up  to  payment  by  cash  to  indepen- 
dent w^orkmen  to-day,  each  a  great  step  forward, 
have  all  been  tried,  and  now  the  coming  day 
dawns  when  payment  is  to  be  made  wholly  or 
in  part  by  profit-sharing,  the  workman  having 


78  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

the  status  of  the  share-owning  official  and  a 
voice  in  management  as  joint  owner.  He 
will  be  guaranteed  a  minimum  wage,  when 
finally  paid  by  profits  entirely,  to  keep  his 
mind  easy  and  free  for  his  work,  the  proper 
support  of  himself  and  of  his  family  being 
thus  ensured. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  investments 
of  workmen-partners  in  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation  have  been  very  profitable  to  both 
the  men  and  the  company. 

To  the  sober-minded  workmen,  we  say  again, 
hold  fast  to  that  which  has  proved  itself  good. 
Keep  marching  upon  the  path  of  decided  and 
continuous  progress,  a  progress  which  can  be 
proved  by  simply  glancing  backward  to  con- 
ditions under  which  Labor  started,  when  work 
was  the  part  of  slaves,  and  contrasting  these  with 
its  present  independent  position. 

We  have  traced  the  progress  of  Labor  up- 
ward under  present  conditions  from  slavery 
to  partnership  with  Capital.  ^Miat  the  w^ork- 
ing-man  has  to  consider,  and  consider  well, 
is  whether  this  be  not  the  most  advantageous 
path  for  him  to  continue  to  tread.  So  far  as  it 
has  been  tried  it  has  proved  a  decided  success, 
and  it  can  easily  be  continued  since  it  is  proving 
mutually  beneficial  to  Capital  and  Labor.     One 


LABOR  79 

of  the  greatest  advantages,  the  writer  thinks,  will 
be  found  in  drawing  men  and  managers  into 
closer  intercourse,  so  that  they  become  friends 
and  learn  each  other's  virtues,  for  that  both 
have  virtues  none  knows  better  than  the  writer, 
who  has  seen  both  sides  of  the  shield  as  employee 
and  employer.  *'We  only  hate  those  we  do  not 
know,"  says  the  French  proverb.  There  is 
much  truth  in  this.  In  vast  establishments  it 
is  very  difficult,  almost  impossible,  for  workmen 
and  employers  to  know  each  other,  but  when  the 
managers  and  workmen  are  joint  owners,  and 
both  paid  wages,  as  even  the  president  of  the 
company  is,  we  shall  see  greater  intercourse 
between  them.  In  the  case  of  disputes,  it  is 
certain  that  the  workmen-partners  have  a  status 
nothing  else  can  give.  They  can  attend  all 
shareholders'  meetings  and  have  a  voice  there 
if  desired.  Entrance  into  the  partnership  class 
means  increased  power  to  workmen.  On  the 
other  hand,  knowledge  of  the  company's  affairs, 
its  troubles  and  disappointments,  which  come 
at  intervals  to  the  most  successful  concerns,  will 
teach  the  workman  much  that  he  did  not  know 
before. 

Co-partnership  tends  to  bring  a  realising  sense 
of  the  truth  to  both  Labor  and  Capital  that  their 
interests,  broadly  considered,  are  mutual;    and 


80  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

as  far  as  the  latter  is  concerned  it  may  finally, 
in  some  cases,  be  all  furnished  by  those  engaged 
in  the  works,  which  is  the  ideal  that  should  be 
held  in  view  —  the  workman  both  Capitalist 
and  Worker,  Employee  and  Employer. 

This,  however,  is  not  for  our  time.  We 
are  only  pioneers,  whose  duty  is  to  start  the 
movement,  leaving  to  our  successors  its  full  and 
free  development  as  human  society  advances. 

The  first  company  so  owned  will  mark  a  new 
era  in  the  relations  of  Labor  and  Capital.  We 
may  not  have  to  wait  long  for  this  experiment, 
since  it  is  in  line  with  recent  developments.  The 
writer  has  no  desire  to  embark  again  in  business, 
but  nothing  would  appeal  to  him  so  strongly  as 
this  ideal.  He  should  like  to  address  a  body  of 
workmen,  many  thousands  in  number,  as  all 
"fellow-partners."  He  addresses  forty-odd  at 
dinner  once  every  year  by  that  endearing  term  — 
partners  of  his  youth  and  dear  friends  of 
his  old  age;  only  two  ever  put  a  dollar  in  the 
business.  All  the  others  —  many  of  them  work- 
ing-men —  earned  their  shares  by  brilliant 
service.  Most  of  them  are  dollar-millionaires 
—  all  are  rich. 

Thus  is  Labor  soon  to  attain  its  deserved 
place  and  recompense,  and  Workman  and 
Capitalist    become    one  —  the    wage    system. 


LABOR  81 

except  a  minimum,  being  displaced  by  division 
of  profits. 

The  foregoing  was  written  before  the  following 
by  John  Stuart  Mill,  attracted  the  writer's 
attention : 

"The  form  of  association,  however,  which, 
if  mankind  continue  to  improve,  must  be 
expected  in  the  end  to  predominate,  is  not 
that  which  can  exist  between  a  capitalist  as 
chief  and  workpeople  without  a  voice  in  the 
management,  but  the  association  of  the  laborers 
themselves  on  terms  of  equality,  collectively 
owning  the  capital  with  w^hich  they  carry  on 
their  operations,  and  working  under  managers 
elected  and  removable  by  themselves."  * 

It  is  most  encouraging  that  so  great  an 
authority  as  Mill  foresaw  that  the  ideal  con- 
dition of  the  future  lay  not  in  State-owned 
factories  and  mines,  uniform  wages  to  work- 
men, and  the  abolition  of  private  capital,  as 
Socialists  urge,  but  in  uniting  the  workman 
and  the  capitalist  in  one  and  the  same  person. 
The  writer  is  convinced  that  this  is  to  be  the 
highly  satisfactory  and  final  solution.  The 
first  step  in  advance  has  already  come  in  the 
natural  progress  of  evolution  —  no  revolution 
necessary  —  and  it  is  earnestly  pressed  upon  the 

♦"Political  Economy"  (Mill),  People's  Edition,  p.  465, 


82  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

attention  of  the  intelligent  working-man  and  his 
leaders,  some  of  whom  seem  to  have  been 
misled  into  devoting  themselves  to  the  advocacy 
of  a  system,  admittedly  unsuited  to  our  day, 
which  requires  an  organic  change  in  the  relations 
of  society,  and  indeed  involves  a  complete 
revolution  in  the  nature  of  man  —  the  task  of  a 
thousand  years. 

The  experiment  of  Labor-and-Capital-Union 
—  Workmen-Capitalists  —  has  exceeded,  so  far, 
all  expectations.  Even  the  convinced  Socialist 
might,  therefore,  hail  it  as  at  least  a  step  in  the 
right  direction,  making  Labor's  position  better 
than  before,  saying  to  himself:  "Let  the  future 
bring  what  it  may,  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  often 
worth  more  than  a  whole  flock  in  the  bush. 
Our  sociaHstic  remedy  is  for  the  future;  let  us 
not  forget  this  in  our  dealings  with  the  present." 

Such  seems  to  the  writer  the  part  of  wisdom. 


Wages 


WAGES 

THE  two  schools  of  Socialism,  evolutionary 
and  revolutionary,  differ  upon  the  crucial 
question  of  wages,  although  it  is  fundamental  and 
must  be  settled  one  way  or  the  other,  for  until 
it  is,  what  Socialism  really  means  cannot  be 
known.  If  wages  are  not  to  be  equal,  all  classes 
cannot  be  merged  and  kept  uniform  —  the  basis 
of  Socialism.  We  quote  from  several  Socialistic 
sources : 

**  Socialism  forbids  the  future  use  of  pro- 
perty as  private  means  of  production  or  private 
source  of  income,  and  thus  necessarily  puts 
an  end  to  inequalities  of  income."* 

"Socialism  is  that  mode  of  social  life  which, 
based  upon  the  recognition  of  the  natural  brother- 
hood and  unity  of  mankind,  would  have  land 
and  capital  owned  by  the  community  collectively, 
and  operated  cooperatively  for  the  equal  good 
of  all."t 

"Our  aim,  one  and  all,  is  to  obtain  for  the 
whole  community  complete  ownership  and  con- 

*  "Quintessence  of  Socialism,"  p.  34, 

t  American  Fabian  Society.    "  From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  no. 

85 


86  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

trol  of  the  means  of  transport,  the  means  of 
manufacture,  the  mines  and  the  land.  Thus 
we  look  to  put  an  end  forever  to  the  wage  system 
to  sweep  away  all  distinctions  of  class,  and 
eventually  to  establish  national  and  inter- 
national Communism  on  a  sound  basis."* 

"The  land,  being  the  storehouse  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  should  be  declared  and  treated 
as  public  property. 

**The  capital  necessary  for  industrial  opera- 
tions should  be  owned  and  used  collectively. 

"Work  and  wealth  resulting  therefrom 
should  be   equitably  distributed  over  the  pop- 

ulation."t 

"Controversy,"   writes   Mrs.   Annie   Besant, 

"will  probably  arise  as  to  the  division;  shall 
all  the  shares  be  equal,  or  shall  the  workers 
receive  in  proportion  to  the  supposed  dignity 
or  indignity  of  their  work.^  Inequality,  how- 
ever, would  be  odious.  .  .  .  The  impos- 
sibility of  estimating  the  separate  value  of 
each  man's  labor  with  any  really  valid  result, 
the  friction  which  would  arise,  the  jealousies 
which  would  be  provoked,  the  inevitable  dis- 
content, favoritism,  and  jobbery  that  would 
prevail:  all  these  things  will  drive  the  Communal 

♦  Joint  Manifesto,  British  Socialistic  Bodies.     *'  From  Serfdom  to  Socialism, " 
p.  110. 
t  Independent  Labor  Party,    "  From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  111. 


WAGES  87 

Council  into  the  right  path  —  equal  remunera- 
tion of  all  workers."* 

"Socialism  we  believe  to  be  the  next  step 
in  the  evolution  of  that  form  of  State  which 
will  give  the  individual  the  fullest  and  freest 
room  for  expansion  and  development.  State 
Socialism,  with  all  its  drawbacks  (and  these 
I  frankly  admit)  will  prepare  the  way  for  free 
Communism,  in  which  the  rule  —  not  merely 
the  law  of  the  State,  but  the  rule  of  life  — 
will  be:  From  each  according  to  his  ability, 
to  each  according  to  his  needs. "t 

Notwithstanding  the  foregoing,  Mr.  Hardie 
ventures  to  aver  in  another  place  that  — 

'*The  Socialist  State,  therefore,  will  have 
good  reason  to  honor  the  inventor,  and  will 
have  a  direct  interest  in  rewarding  him  as  a 
public   benefactor.''^ 

If  already  honored,  one  wonders  what  form 
further ''reward"  could  take  without  differentiat- 
ing him  from  others. 

Upon  the  other  side  we  quote  from  Mr. 
Jowett's  booklet  in  the  "Labor  Ideal"  series, 
"The  Socialist  and  the  City,"  pp.  17,  18,  and  19. 
This  deliverance  is  so  vitally  important  that  we 
give  it  at  length. 

*  "The  Case  against  Socialism,"  p,  228. 
t  "  From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  89. 
t "  From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  99. 


88  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

"At  present  all  the  larger  corporations  are 
trying  to  monopolise  for  their  own  service  a 
number  of  experts  insufficient  to  go  round;  the 
result  is  that  some  of  them  are  paying  first- 
class  salaries  for  second  or  third-class  men. 
There  will  be  no  need  for  this  when  cities  cease 
to  compete  with  each  other,  and  one  may  natur- 
ally expect  that  Socialist  cities  would  abolish 
this  last  vestige  of  competition  still  remaining 
between  different  municipal  corporations.    .     .    . 

"The  associated  corporations  will  be  able 
to  pay  sufficiently  large  salaries,  and  each 
individual  corporation  requiring  a  specialist's 
assistance  might  pay  consultation  fees  into  a 
common  pool.  Joint  action  in  this  direction 
will  tend  to  steady  the  movements  of  experts 
and  officials;  and  for  the  rest,  it  should  be 
looked  upon  as  a  discreditable  proceeding  on 
the  part  of  a  man,  holding,  say,  a  responsible 
post  as  engineer,  surveyor,  architect,  or  other 
similar  profession,  to  transfer  his  services 
after  committing  the  community  to  some 
large  scheme  involving  great  outlay,  until 
the  work  is  sufficiently  near  completion  for 
the  responsibility  to  be  properly  placed  in  case 
of  failure. 

"It  is  no  part  of  the  Socialist  plan  to  run 
municipal   concerns   under   the   control   of   the 


WAGES  89 

managerial  leavings  of  private  enterprise,  for 
that  way  disaster  lies." 

Here  we  have  a  revelation.  Nothing  new 
is  to  be  obtained  by  Mr.  Jowett's  brand  of 
Socialism  except  that  Socialistic  cities  are 
to  combine,  which  they  do  not  do  under  present 
conditions,  and  agree  not  to  offer  a  higher 
reward  for  labor,  thus  robbing  other  cities  of  their 
valuable  men.  No  competition  for  labor! 
Valuable  men  are  to  be  compelled  to  remain 
where  they  are.  No  chance  of  escape!  What 
do  our  friends  of  labor  think  of  this  ?  Ability, 
as  to-day,  will  look  for  and  receive  high  rewards, 
and  cities  through  their  governors  will  con- 
descend to  combine  to  thwart  service  receiving 
the  reward  which  under  the  free  play  of  forces 
it  would  command. 

In  "The  Necessary  Basis  of  Society" 
(Conteviporary  Review,  June  1908,  p.  664),  Mr. 
Sidney  Webb,  who  tells  us  he  is  a  Socialist, 
writes  as  follows: 

"The  most  democratic  Government  of  the 
ensuing  century  —  based,  as  it  must  necessarily 
be,  on  the  very  idea  of  providing  for  each  of 
the  series  of  minorities  of  which  the  world 
is  made  up  —  is  as  likely  to  provide  for  one 
minority  as  for  another,  for  its  poets  as  for 
its    apprentices,    for    its    scientists    as    for    its 


90  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

soldiers,  for  its  artists  as  for  its  artificers, 
and  with  the  advance  of  actual  knowledge 
in  the  administration  is  even  more  likely  to 
know  how  they  can  be  fostered  and  really 
well  provided  for  than  the  irresponsible 
plutocratic  patron  ever  did." 

Another  eminent  authority,  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells, 
in  his  recent  book,  differs  from  both  sides 
quoted.  The  State  is  not  to  take  over  all 
branches  of  industrial  production,  but  only  half. 
He  declares  — 

"A  moiety,  or  little  short  of  a  moiety,  of  the 
business  of  such  a  country  as  England  must 
always  be  in  the  hands  of  men  who  are  the 
masters  of  their  own  enterprises,  and  are  not  the 
salaried  officials  of  any  larger  organisation 
whatsoever.  Labor  is  not  to  be  paid  equal 
wages  or  according  to  its  needs. 

"Socialism  does  not  propose  to  'abolish 
competition,'  as  many  hasty  and  foolish  antago- 
nists declare.  If  the  reader  has  gone  through 
what  has  preceded  this,  he  will  know  that  this 
is  not  so.  Socialism  trusts  to  competition  for 
the  service  and  improvement  of  the  world. 
And  in  order  that  competition  between  man 
and  man  may  have  free  play.  Socialism  seeks  to 
abolish  one  particular  form  of  competition,  the 
competition  to  get  and  hold  property  —  even  to 


WAGES  91 

marry  property  —  that  degrades  our  present 
world.  But  it  would  leave  men  free  to  compete 
for  fame,  for  service,  for  salaries,  for  position  and 
authority,  for  leisure,  for  love  and  honor."* 

Socialism  must  either  establish  equality  of 
wages,  for  thus  only  can  it  maintain  uniformity 
of  living,  or  retain  the  present  system  of  ine- 
quality of  wages  involving  variety  of  living. 

If  the  former  were  adopted  human  life 
w^ould  be  changed,  with  results  unknown. 
No  wonder  Mr.  Hardief  relegates  the  considera- 
tion of  that  question  to  the  future,  for  he  is 
undoubtedly  right  in  saying  man  is  not  to-day 
prepared  for  such  a  change.  Those  whose 
services  command  more  than  the  common 
laborer  would  not  agree.  Such  is  human  nature 
as  it  stands  to-day,  and  the  idea  of  uniform 
income  may  be  dismissed  until  the  nature  of 
man  changes. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  different  wages  be 
paid  according  to  service  rendered.  Socialism 
becomes  impossible.  As  Mr.  Spargo  says, 
"There  must  be  approximate  equality  of 
income,  otherwise  class  formations  must  take 
place,  and  the  old  problems  incidental  to 
economic    inequality    reappear."}     Here    is    a 

♦"New  Worlds  for  Old"  (Wells). 

+  "From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  96. 

t*'The  Case  Against  Socialism,"  p.  229. 


92  PROBLEIMS  OF  TO-DAY 

step  which  SociaKsm  must  overleap  or  else  fall 
down. 

Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald,  M.P.,  is  a  philo- 
sophic Socialist  who  writes  well.     He  tells  us  — 

*'If  the  Socialist  state  is  ever  to  come,  it  is  not 
by  a  sudden  change  in  economic  and  personal 
relationships,  but  by  a  steady  readjustment  of 
existing  relationships  until  the  organic  structure 
has  been  completely  altered."* 

Never  were  truer  words  written.  Would 
that  all  Socialists  apprehended  that  they  are  fatal 
to  the  realisation  of  the  Socialistic  state  with 
its  uniform  incomes  and  abolition  of  private 
property,  not  only  during  our  time  but  until 
or  unless  "the  organic  structure  be  completely 
altered." 

Man's  progress  in  the  past  has  been  steady, 
and  he  has  travelled  upward  from  savagery, 
but  long  is  the  road  and  devious  the  way  to 
complete  change  of  the  organic  structure  of 
the  economic  and  personal  relationships  of 
human  society.  Yet  this  must  be  reached  before 
Socialism  as  a  system  can  be  introduced. 
Strange  that  such  men  as  we  have  quoted  —  fit 
for  leaders  of  their  fellows  in  assaults  upon  the 
numerous  evils  of  our  day  —  should  waste  their 
powers  upon  a  system  which  they  admit  cannot 

*  "  Socialism  and  Politics."    Fortnightly  Review,  June,  1908. 


WAGES  i^^ 

be  adopted  until  organic  changes  take  place  in 
the  structure  of  human  society. 

We  have  before  us  the  work  of  our  own 
day  and  generation,  and  only  this  can  we  push 
forward  during  our  lives.  To  this  it  is  our  duty 
to  devote  ourselves,  leaving  the  work  of  the 
distant  future  to  our  successors.  Rare  are  the 
men  capable  of  dealing  wisely  with  the  needs  of 
their  own  time.  Even  with  these  their  success 
is  often  not  surprisingly  brilliant.  We  have 
not  been  blest  with  men  capable  of  legislating 
properly  for  generations  to  come.  They  do  not 
and  cannot  exist. 

Meanwhile,  in  view  of  the  conflicting  views 
expressed,  we  shall  surely  be  excused  for  asking 
the  Socialists  for  an  authoritative  answer  to  the 
question  whether  Socialism  involves  equal  wages, 
or  whether  the  present  individualistic  mode  of 
payment  according  to  service  rendered  is  to  be 
retained,  or  Mr.  Wells's  half-and-half  system  to 
be  adopted. 

The  most  devoted  disciple  of  Socialism 
must  realise  that  this  constitutes  one  of  the 
two  vital  differences  between  the  Individualistic 
and  Socialistic  systems  —  the  other  being  the 
right  of  private  property  —  that  it  is  funda- 
mental, and  lies  at  the  root  of  the  whole  matter. 
No  equal  wages,  no  Socialism  possible;    equal 


94  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

wages,  no  Individualism  possible ;  half  equal  and 
half  unequal  wages,  endless  confusion.  We 
leave  the  revolutionary,  the  evolutionary,  and 
the  half-and-half  Socialists  to  study  the  problem 
and  decide;  until  it  is  solved  Socialism  remains 
a  mere  babble  of  words  signifying  nothing,  for 
this  is  not  a  mere  incident  in  its  progress,  it  stands 
at  the  threshold  and  demands  settlement. 


Thrift 


THRIFT 

THE  Socialistic  system,  as  we  shall  see, 
does  not  harmonise  with  our  present  home 
and  family  relations,  which  many  of  us  treasure, 
for  their  holy  and  ennobling  influence  upon 
human  life,  as  the  most  precious  of  all  insti- 
tutions. 

We  find  it  also  attacks  or  belittles  one  of 
the  virtues  which,  as  we  believe,  lie  at  the 
root  of  the  progress  of  our  race,  that  of  Thrift. 

Most  men  and  women  are  born  to  poverty. 
Comparatively  few  are  provided  for  and  free 
to  spend  lives  of  ease.  The  vast  majority  must 
work  to  live.  Fortunately  for  himself,  in  all 
probability  Keir  Hardie  is  no  exception.  If  he 
had  been  one  of  the  few  born  to  competence,  he 
might  never  have  attained  eminence  through 
service  to  his  fellows.  In  his  booklet  in  the 
** Labor  Ideal"  series  (p.  38)  after  writing  that 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  full  of  the  spirit  of 
pure  Socialism,  he  continues,  "Nay,  in  its  lofty 
contempt  for  thrift  and  forethought,  it  goes  far  in 
advance  of  anything  ever  put  forward  by  any 
Communist,  ancient  or  modern." 

97 


98  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

Thrift  cannot  commend  itself  to  the  true 
Socialist,  who  forbids  private  capital,  but 
the  story  of  the  talent  hid  in  the  ground  inculcates 
the  duty  of  man  not  only  to  guard  his  capital 
but  to  increase  it,  and  we  are  told  that  "he 
that  provides  not  for  those  of  his  own  house 
hath  denied  the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an 
iniedel." 

Proper  provision  certainly  requires  a  reserve 
fund  for  contingencies.  If  we  were  to  divide 
the  vast  army  of  workers  of  mature  age  into  two 
classes,  the  savers  and  the  spendthrifts,  we  should 
practically  separate  the  creditable  from  the  dis- 
creditable, the  exemplary  from  the  pitiable,  the 
progressive  from  the  backsliders,  the  sober  from 
the  intemperate.  A  visit  to  their  respective 
homes  would  confirm  this  classification.  The 
thrifty  would  be  found  not  only  the  best  work- 
men, and  foremost  in  the  shop,  but  the  best 
citizens  and  the  best  husbands  and  fathers,  the 
leaders  and  exemplars  of  their  fellows.  Many 
are  those  who  have  risen  from  the  ranks  of 
manual  labor  and  achieved  reputation  for  useful 
work  performed  for  the  community,  and  been 
held  in  general  esteem  as  model  citizens.  Much 
good  have  they  accomplished  for  their  fellows. 
That  they  were  thrifty,  thoughtful  men  goes 
without  saying.     They  could  not  otherwise  have 


THRIFT  99 

risen.  If  the  workmen  depositors  in  savings 
banks,  members  of  friendly  and  of  building 
societies,  cooperative  stores,  and  similar  organi- 
sations were  to  march  in  procession,  preceded  by 
the  workmen  who  are  not,  spectators  would 
take  heart  again  after  their  depression  from 
seeing  the  first.  If  the  workmen  who  own  their 
homes  were  to  march  and  be  followed  by  those 
who  do  not,  the  contrast  in  appearance  would 
be  striking. 

Apply  to  the  masses  of  men  any  of  the  tests 
that  indicate  success  or  failure  in  life,  progress 
or  stagnation,  valuable  or  worthless  citizenship 
and  none  will  more  clearly  than  that  of  thrift 
separate  the  well-behaved,  respected  and  useful 
from  the  unsatisfactory  members  of  society. 

The  writer  lived  his  early  years  among  work- 
men and  his  later  years  as  an  employer  of  labor, 
and  it  is  incomprehensible  to  him  how  any 
informed  man,  having  at  heart  the  elevation  of 
manual  laboring  men,  could  fail  to  place  upon 
the  habit  of  thrift  tJfe  highest  value,  ^econd  only 
to  that  of  temperance,  without  which  no  honor- 
able career  is  possible,  for  against  intemperance 
no  combination  of  good  qualities  can  prevail. 
Temperance  and  thrift  are  virtues  which  act 
and  react  upon  each  other,  strengthening  both, 
and  are  seldom  found  apart. 


100  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

The  pure,  elevating,  happy  home  with  wife 
and  children  is  the  product  of  both.  When 
some  part  of  the  weekly  earnings  is  not  saved 
all  is  not  as  well  with  that  home  as  could  be 
wished. 


The  Land 


THE  LAND 

THE  land  figures  prominently  in  political 
and  social  questions  only  in  the  British 
Islands.  It  has  settled  itself  in  all  other  regions 
occupied  by  the  English-speaking  race.  It  is 
not  a  burning  question  in  America,  Canada, 
Australia,  or  New  Zealand,  nor  in  most  Euro- 
pean countries,  where  the  land  is  mainly  divided 
in  small  portions  among  the  people. 

In  the  United  States,  in  1900,  there  were 
5,739,657  farms,  and  10,381,765  adults  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits.  The  farms  averaged 
146  acres.  The  rapid  increase  of  these  may  be 
seen  from  the  fact  that  in  1850  there  were  only 
one  and  a  half  million,  in  1880,  only  four  million, 
farms.  So  the  good  w^ork  has  gone  on,  an 
average  increase  of  85,000  additional  farms  per 
year  for  the  past  fifty  years,  and  the  end  is  not 
yet.  As  a  rule  farms  are  cultivated  by  the 
owners.  If  happy  homes  be  the  crown  of  civili- 
sation, we  have  here  the  Scripture  fulfilled. 
Millions  of  men  ''sit  under  their  own  vine  and 
fig-tree  with  none  to  make  afraid."  Land  is  free 
for  sale  or  purchase,  and  is  lightly  taxed  where 

103 


104  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

it  is  taxed  at  all.  The  world  may  be  ransacked 
in  vain  for  equally  large  numbers  of  men,  women, 
and  children  residing  under  such  favorable  con- 
ditions. Home,  sweet  home  is  the  spot  round 
which  centre  their  fondest  hopes,  their  dearest 
wishes,  and  their  greatest  happiness.  The  few 
who  rent  for  the  time  have  the  desire  and  reason- 
able hope  of  soon  owning  their  homes,  the  wisest 
purchase  that  can  be  made.  Similar  conditions 
prevail  in  Canada,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand, 
France  has  five  and  a  half  million  peasant 
proprietors;  Germany  has  over  six  millions, 
average  holding  thirty  acres.  It  is  only  in  the 
United  Kingdom  that  the  land  question  is  acute. 
The  present  conditions  of  land-holding  in  the 
countries  named  prove  to  the  people  of  the  old 
land  what  can  be  done;  but  the  favored  people 
of  the  four  new  countries  named  had  a  clean  slate 
to  begin  with  —  nothing  to  obliterate.  They 
do  not,  therefore,  teach  the  needed  lesson 
to  the  motherland  which  Denmark  does.  That 
wonderful  little  country  not  long  ago  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  owners,  who  rented  it  in  portions 
to  farmers,  whose  position  was  that  of  farmers 
in  the  United  Kingdom  to-day.  But  it  is  now 
very  different.  They  are  now  on  the  same  plane 
as  farm-owners  in  America  and  other  English- 
speaking  nations.     The  land  ^that  seventy-odd 


THE  LAND  105 

years  ago  was  in  the  hands  of  the  few  is  now 
owned  by  no  less  than  86,000  people,  and, 
as  to  75,000  of  the  holdings,  the  law  prevents 
their  being  merged  to  form  larger  farms  or 
estates.  The  area  of  the  country  is  less  than  ten 
million  acres  and  the  population  two  and  a  half 
millions. 

Denmark's  exports  of  butter,  eggs,  cheese, 
bacon,  beef,  and  pork  to  Great  Britain  alone, 
in  1904,  amounted  to  over  fifteen  millions  sterling. 
A  startling  statement!  One  wonders  what 
British  farmers  are  doing. 

No  revolution  was  necessary  to  produce 
the  change,  no  Government  ownership.  It 
was  all  quietly  done,  one  step  after  another. 
The  country  was  divided  into  farms  of  a  certain 
size  and  a  progressive  land-tax  levied.  For 
one  man  cultivating  one  farm  the  tax  was  small. 
If  he  had  another  the  tax  was  much  greater  upon 
the  second,  and  so  on  until  additions  became 
prohibitive,  the  object  being  to  favor  the  owning 
of  farms  by  those  who  cultivated  them.  The 
produce  of  the  land  is  now  three  times  as  great 
as  under  the  former  system  of  large  proprietors, 
still  existing  in  the  United  Kingdom.  The  magic 
said  to  be  in  ownership  was  really  found  there. 

By  following  the  example  of  Denmark,  which 
involves  neither  dangerous  experiment  nor  violent 


106  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

disturbance,  the  land  of  the  United  Kingdom 
can  be  owned  and  worked  by  the  owners  thereof, 
each  man  with  a  reasonable  acreage,  and  thus 
many  happy  and  endearing  homes  established. 
This  is  well,  but  it  is  not  all,  nor  even  the  best 
result.  Denmark's  policy  has  created  an  indepen- 
dent, prosperous,  happy  and  contented  people. 

Instead  of  one  great  mammoth  landowner, 
the  State,  as  Socialists  propose,  Britain  should 
have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  small  owners, 
necessarily  developing  into  men  of  a  much  higher 
type  than  mere  tenants  or  employees  can  ever 
become.  The  magic  of  ownership  works  won- 
ders, not  only  upon  the  soil,  but  upon  the  happy 
working  owner  thereof.  The  type  of  men 
developed  in  America  upon  farms  they  own, 
taken  all  in  all,  is  not  to  be  equalled,  as  far  as 
the  writer  has  known  large  classes  of  men. 
The  same  qualities  characterise  the  land-owning 
workers  of  Canada,  Australia,  New  Zealand, 
and  Denmark. 

Land  in  these  countries  is  everywhere  free, 
as  other  property  is.  The  laws  of  primogeniture 
and  settlements  exist  only  in  Britain.  No 
English-speaking  people  elsewhere  would  tolerate 
them. 

We  have  a  striking  instance  of  land  develop- 
ment  going   forward    in   America   at   present. 


THE  LAND  107 

Forty-odd  years  ago  there  were  four  millon 
slaves  owned  by  other  people.  They  owned 
nothing  and  could  own  nothing.  They  did 
not  even  own  themselves.  They  had  neither 
rights  nor  responsibilities.  They  were  bought 
and  sold.  In  1900,  under  present  conditions, 
these  former  slaves  owned  as  landlords  173,352 
farms.  They  leased  and  cultivated  as  farmers 
762,000  farms.  They  have  church  property 
valued  at  more  than  twenty-five  million  dollars. 
Great  additions  have  been  made  to  their  lands 
since  1900.  Here  we  have  a  race  who  in  1862 
could  own  nothing,  not  even  themselves,  now 
owning  and  cultivating  the  soil  in  small  portions, 
no  rent  to  pay.  They  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  and  now  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  has 
fallen  from  83.5  in  1870  to  47.4  in  1900.  When 
such  progress  can  be  made  under  free  trade 
in  land  surely  we  should  be  careful  about 
revolutionising  conditions  which  produce  such 
precious  fruit.  The  extent  of  land  owned  and 
cultivated  by  these  people  in  small  areas  fur- 
nishes the  greatest  of  contrasts  to  that  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  that  between  small  landlords 
cultivating  their  own  land  and  men  who  pay 
a  rental  to  territorial  magnates  whose  lands 
they  cultivate. 
The  more  than  eleven  millions  of  working 


108  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

people,  and  their  children,  settled  upon  the 
land  in  America  as  agriculturists  are  the  back- 
bone of  the  Republic  —  intelligent,  fair,  kindly, 
sober,  law-abiding.  One  who  knows  them 
w^ould  hesitate  long  to  disturb  conditions  which 
give  the  State  such  model  citizens.  To  transfer 
the  land  now  cultivated  and  mainly  owned  by 
these  people  into  the  hands  of  the  State  and 
degrade  the  present  working  owners  into  menials 
working  for  and  paid  by  State  agents  is  unthink- 
able. Our  Socialistic  friends  would  require 
larger  armies  to  coerce  them  than  have  ever 
yet  assembled,  and  then  they  would  fail,  for 
men  fighting  in  defence  of  their  homes,  in  which 
many  of  them  and  most  of  their  children  were 
born,  would  have  their  quarrel  just.  No  offer 
on  the  part  of  the  State  to  ensure  their  con- 
tinued residence  undisturbed  would  be  enter- 
tained. They  would  never  agree  to  come 
under  any  restriction  of  their  right  to  do  as 
they  pleased  with  their  own  homes.  It  is  the 
same   with    Canadians   and   Australasians. 

In  every  English-speaking  land,  other  than 
Britain  estates  are  generally  divided  about 
equally  among  the  children;  but  the  farm 
usually  goes  to  the  member  best  qualified  to 
w^ork  it,  the  other  members  taking  other  parts 
of  the  estate  or  mortgages  upon  the  farm. 


THE  LAND  109 

The  proposed  exclusive  taxation  of  land, 
proposed  by  Henry  George,  was  denounced 
by  the  people  of  Canada  and  America  as  keenly 
as  would  be  a  proposition  to  make  America  a 
monarchy  or  Canada  a  colony  minus  self- 
government.  In  both  lands  the  agriculturists 
rule.  Let  the  most  eloquent  Socialist  endeavor 
to  convince  these  owners  of  the  soil,  true 
landlord-farmers,  that  they  are  not  part,  and 
the  best  part,  of  the  most  highly  developed  and 
most  desirable  society  known  to  man,  and  he 
will  have  a  rude  awakening.  No  Socialism 
for  them. 

Much  is  to  be  said  against  the  British  land- 
lord system.  It  has  little  to  commend  it.  It 
is  a  survival  of  the  past,  but  let  not  Socialists 
imagine  that  recourse  to  State  ownership  is 
the  proper  substitute.  Let  them  follow  the 
example  of  Denmark  and,  by  the  creation  of 
farmer-landlords,  each  with  one  farm,  give  to 
Britain  one  of  the  greatest  of  blessings,  a  land- 
owning and  land-tilling  people,  instead  of  a 
few  land-owning  squires  who  neither  toil  nor 
spin. 

Here  lies  before  Britain  a  task  easy  of  accom- 
plishment. It  is  no  experiment;  neither  is  it 
revolutionary.  Our  own  race  in  other  lands 
and  the  people  of  Denmark  have  proved  the 


no         PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

value  of  small  farms  owned  and  cultivated  by 
owners.     One  reads  with   wonder  that  — 

"The  cultivated  land  of  the  United  King- 
dom (including  parks  and  permanent  pastures, 
but  not  mountain  or  waste)  amounted  in  1880 
to  47,515,747  acres.  The  total  acreage  is 
77,635,301  acres.  By  the  Domesday  Book  of 
1875  it  appeared  that  one-fourth  of  the  total 
acreage  (excluding  plots  under  1  acre)  is  held 
by  1,200  owners,  at  an  average  for  each  of 
16,200  acres;  another  fourth  by  6,200  persons, 
at  an  average  of  3,150  acres;  another  fourth  is 
held  by  50,770  persons,  averaging  380  acres 
each;  and  the  remaining  fourth  by  261,830 
persons,  averaging  70  acres  each  (Caird). 
Peers,  in  number  about  600,  hold  rather 
more  than  one-fifth  of  all  the  land  in  the 
kingdom.  Thus  one-half  of  the  whole  terri- 
tory is  in  the  hands  of  only  7,400  individuals; 
the  other  half  is  divided  among  312,500 
[312,600?]  individuals."* 

In  Scotland  the  contrast  is  even  greater. 
Twelve  persons  in  1876  held  more  than  a 
quarter  of  Scotland;  seventy  held  half.  Nine- 
tenths  of  Scotland  was  held  by  fewer  than  1,700 
persons. 

As  upon  the  vital  question  of  equal  or  unequal 

♦  *'  Encyclopeedia  Britannica,"  Vol.  XIV.,  p.  265. 


THE  LAND  111 

wages  Socialists  are  divided,  they  are  also  upon 
the  equally  important  question  of  the  con- 
fiscation of  or  payment  for  the  land  which, 
according  to  their  theory,  the  nation  should 
acquire. 

Mr.  Sidney  Webb  testified  before  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Labor   (1892) : 

"Q.  3887.  Supposing  it  (the  rate)  had  to 
go  so  far  as  to  amount  to  20  shillings  in  the 
pound,  what  then  ? 

''Ans,  That  is  a  consummation  I  should 
view  without  any  alarm  whatever. 

**  Q.  3888.  The  municipality  would  then  have 
rated  the  owners  out  of  existence,  would  it  not  ? 

''Arts,  That  is  so."* 

The  President  of  the  *' Scottish  Land  Restora- 
tion Union"  testified  before  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Local  Taxation,  April  14,  1898: 

"Q.  16,175.  What  is  to  be  the  next  step .? 

''Arts.  Increase  the  tax  upon  the  value  of 
the  ground. 

**Q.  16,176.     Until  you  take  it  all? 

''A71S.  Until    you    take    20    shillings    in    the 

pound. "t 

Bailie  Ferguson,  before  the  same  Royal 
Commission,  testified: 


*  "The  Case  Against  Socialism,"  pp.  441,  449. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  440. 


112  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

*'I  hold  that  nothing  short  of  20  shillings 
in  the  pound  will  be  a  complete  settlement 
of  the  question."  * 

Mr.  Joseph  Hyder,  in  "The  Crux  of  the 
Land  Question,"  p.  16,  says:  "Every  land 
nationaliser  should  assist  this  taxation  reform 
in  order  to  facilitate  the  State  acquisition  of 
the    land    upon     the     most    favorable     terms 

possible."! 

Mr.Blatchford  ("Merrie  England,"  p.60)  says: 

"Now,  if  a  man  has  a  right  to  nothing  but 
that  which  he  has  himself  made,  no  man  can 
have  a  right  to  the  land,  for  no  man  made  it. 
My  only  hope  is  that  compensation  be  kept 
as  low  as  possible." 

Mr.  Jowett,  M.  P.,  says  that  "Socialists 
recognise  the  expediency  in  all,  and  the  justice 
in  some  cases,  of  paying  for  land,  rather  than 
confiscating  it."{ 

The  truth  is  that  the  Socialistic  leaders  have 
not  hesitated  to  propose  the  most  sweeping 
changes,  amounting  to  a  revolution  of  existing 
conditions,  without  having  first  considered  how 
these  were  to  be  accomplished.  They  differ 
upon  equal  and  unequal  wages,  a  fundamental 
question;  and  upon  payment  for  or  confiscation 

*  "The  Case  Against  Socialism,"  p.  440. 

•fibid.,  p.  441. 

t "  The  Socialist  and  the  City,"  p.  24. 


THE  LAND  113 

of  the  land  —  purchase  or  robbery  —  another 
fundamental  question.  These  two  questions 
determine  what  Socialism  is,  or  is  not.  They 
are  the  pillars  of  the  Socialistic  edifice,  and  not 
yet  agreed  upon.  Upon  one  point,  however, 
there  is  unanimity.  The  land  must  in  one  way 
or  another  be  nationalised.     All  agree  in  this. 

Lord  Wolverhampton  has  recently  flashed 
light  upon  this  subject  of  payment  for  or  con- 
fiscation of  the  land  by  telling  a  story  of  Glad- 
stone. The  world's  foremost  citizen,  being 
asked  about  Socialism,  replied  that  it  had  to 
meet  this  query,  "Did  it  propose  to  buy  the 
land  or  to  take  it  ?  If  the  first,  it  w  as  folly ; 
if  the  second,  it  was  robbery." 

Let  us  assume  for  the  present  that  the  demand 
for  confiscation  made  by  the  radical  section  of 
the  Socialist  party  will  be  rejected  by  the 
moderates.  The  query  then  arises.  How  is  the 
land  to  be  paid  for.^  The  great  bulk  of  it 
has  been  acquired  under  law  as  it  then  existed, 
and  as  it  exists  to-day.  Territory  won  by 
force  in  bygone  ages  as  a  whole  is  now  in  the 
possession  of  innocent  purchasers.  It  has  been 
paid  for.  Now,  if  there  be  one  tenet  of  honest 
dealing  firmly  rooted  in  the  conscience  of 
civilised  men,  it  is  that  the  title  to  such  purchase 
is  valid.     The  possessor  must  be  paid  a  fair  price 


114  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

for  what  the  law  has  declared  to  be  his.  He  can 
be  robbed  of  his  property,  of  course,  but  an 
advance  toward  heaven  upon  earth  founded  upon 
robbery  would  infallibly  be  a  step  in  the  other 
direction  —  backward,  not  forward ;  down- 
ward, not  upward.  Civilised  man  has  advanced 
already  under  present  conditions  beyond  the 
idea  of  robbery.  Its  advocacy  would  shock 
him,  and  the  entire  Socialistic  movement  be 
discarded  as  not  only  visionary,  but  confiscatory, 
a  proposal  to  rob  the  neighbor.  If  it  be  clear 
that  the  property  must  be  bought,  it  is  equally 
clear  that  honesty  compels  the  State  to  pay  a 
fair  value  for  it.  As  the  State  alone  could 
be  the  purchaser,  it  must  deal  fairly  in  forcing 
compulsory  acquisition.  To  whom  will  pay- 
ment go,  to  whom  can  it  go,  except  to  the 
owners  of  the  property  taken?  Ah,  there's 
the  rub!  What  becomes  of  the  Socialist  state 
in  that  event .^  Where  is  the  "equality"  upon 
which  such  State  is  to  be  founded  ?  Impossible, 
because  the  rich  and  the  poor  we  would  still 
have  with  us,  and  the  present  division  into 
classes  be  revived;  for  it  is  wealth,  not  birth, 
in  our  day  which  creates  class  distinctions. 
The  claims  of  birth  in  our  race  only  survive 
in  the  United  Kingdom;  they  would  be  laughed 
at  elsew^here  if  presented. 


THE  LAND  115 

It  is  not  only  the  land  that  the  State  has 
to  purchase.  The  mills  and  furnaces,  the 
shipyards,  the  railways,  all  means  of  production 
and  distribution,  must  also  be  acquired  and 
paid  for.  To  say  that  all  productive  property 
could  be  rented  and  paid  for  out  of  the  profits 
does  not  affect  the  question.  The  rents  would 
go  to  the  owners,  and  they  would  remain  rich. 
What  just  power  could  compel  them  to  leave 
their  present  homes  and  modes  of  life,  sur- 
render their  rents  to  the  State,  and  become 
Socialists.^  The  payment  made  for  their 
property  would  become  a  mockery  if  they  were 
not  allowed  to  spend  what  was  their  own.  Yet 
unless  the  payment  made  to  the  owners  with 
one  hand  be  promptly  taken  away  by  the 
other,  no  Socialism  would  be  possible,  for  it 
must  be  based,  not  upon  the  capital  of  the  few, 
but  upon  wealth  in  common,  owned,  not  by  the 
individual,  but  by  the  State.  Besides  this, 
as  before  quoted  in  the  case  of  unequal  wages, 
"the  ideal  to  be  aimed  at  ultimately  must  be 
approximate  equality  of  income,  otherwise 
class  formations  must  take  place,  and  the  old 
problems  incidental  to  economic  inequality 
reappear."* 

Should  the  Socialist  be  driven  from  the  idea 

*lfr.  Jolm  Spargo.  in  "  Socialism."    "  The  Case  against  Socialism,"  p.  389. 


116  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

of  taking  the  land  from  private  owners  with- 
out paying  for  it,  how  is  payment  to  be  made  ? 
The  cash  could  not  be  raised.  Evidently  there 
is  but  one  mode.  ^The  State  must  issue  Consols. 
Sixteen  or  more  hundred  millions  sterling  for 
land  and  farm  improvements;  for  mines, 
machinery,  etc.,  say  half  as  much  more,  or 
altogether  three  times  the  amount  of  the  National 
Debt.  What  price  would  Consols,  already  much 
below  par,  reach  under  such  an  issue.?  Let 
the  enthusiastic  Socialist  ask  the  banker  and 
learn  what  would  ensue.  What  receiver  of 
Consols  would  feel  safe,  holding  the  bond  of  a 
Government  that  forced  compulsory  sale  and 
snatched  from  him  his  home,  the  dearest  spot 
on  earth  to  him  and  his  ? 

Who  would  wish  to  live  under  such  a  Govern- 
ment, or  in  such  a  land.?  Few,  indeed,  of 
those  most  desirable  to  retain.  Canada  and 
America  would  be  too  attractive,  and  the 
despoiled  would  follow  the  Pilgrims,  their  fore- 
fathers, who  left  their  old  home  and  settled  in 
the  new,  where  men  had  rights  and  liberties 
then  denied  at  home,  and  private  property 
was  inviolate. 

After  settling  the  land  problem  through 
purchase,  with  freedom  to  spend  proceeds  as 
former  owners  desire,  or  through  confiscation 


THE  LAND  117 

under  compulsion  of  uniformity  of  living,  there 
is  another  step,  as  mentioned,  which  SociaHsm 
must  overleap,  or  else  fall  down.  Until  officials, 
superintendents,  foremen,  and  skilled  mechanics 
are  willing  to  accept  the  recompense  earned  by 
the  sweepers  of  the  factories,  there  can  be  no 
success  for  Socialism,  for  upon  this  foundation 
it  is  compelled  to  stand.  The  moment  "  equality 
of  payment"  is  dropped,  and  a  commission  is 
formed  to  found  and  enforce  "inequality  of 
payment,"  the  phantom  vanishes.  We  are 
back  again  to  our  present  system  with  all  its 
inequalities.  Unequal  income  means  unequal 
outgo,  hence  inequalities ;  or  as  we  individualists 
would  put  it,  healthful  variety  necessary  for 
the  improvement  of  man  in  his  march  upward 
toward  perfection. 

The  cry  of  the  Socialist  of  to-day  in  Britain 
should  not  be  against  private  ownership  of 
land,  but  against  there  being  so  few  private 
owners.  To  distribute  the  land  by  abolishing 
primogeniture  and  settlements,  and  through 
progressive  taxation,  is  surely  the  next  practical 
step.  Being  so  palpably  the  remedy  for  the 
present  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  problem, 
it  would  seem  that  the  needed  legislation  could 
not  be  long  denied. 

When  the  interests  of  the  masses  of  the  people 


118  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

require  change  in  land  tenure,  the  few  owners 
can  justly  be  required  to  forego  their  preferences, 
or  submit  to  increased  taxation  if  they  decide  to 
enjoy  privileges  injurious  to  the  community  as 
a  whole. 

In  all  other  English  speaking  countries  the 
people  work  the  land ;  in  Britain  the  landlords 
work  the  people. 

The  writer  cannot  but  believe  that  if  once 
the  United  Kingdom  had  its  people  settled 
upon  the  land  as  owners  and  cultivators,  as 
other  parts  of  the  Empire  and  America  have, 
its  nationalisation  would  never  be  thought  of. 


Individualism  versus  Socialism 


INDIVIDUALISM  VERSUS 
SOCIALISM 

THE  alacrity  displayed  by  Socialists  in  past- 
ing their  labels  upon  the  products  of 
Individualism  is  surprising,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  many  of  the  measures  claimed  as  Socialistic 
have  long  been  in  operation  in  English-speaking 
lands. 

Mr.  Snowden,  for  instance,  gives  what  he 
claims  to  be  the  Socialist's  ideas  of  taxation. 

"1.  Both  local  and  national  taxation  should 
aim,  primarily,  at  securing  for  the  communal 
benefit  all  *unearned'  or  'social'  increment  of 
wealth. 

''2.  Taxation  should  aim,  deliberately,  at 
preventing  the  retention  of  large  incomes  and 
great  fortunes  in  private  hands,  recognising 
that  the  few  cannot  be  rich  without  making 
the  many  poor. 

'*3.  Taxation  should  be  in  proportion  to 
ability  to  pay  and  to  protection  and  benefit 
conferred  by  the  State. 

*'4.  No   taxation  should  be  imposed  which 

121 


1^2         PROBLEMS   OF  TO-DAY 

encroaches  upon  the  individual's  means  it> 
satisfy  his  physical  needs." 

He  is  quite  entitled  to  Number  One.  No 
one  but  a  Socialist  would  dream  of  taxing  with 
a  view  of  securing  all  ''unearned"  or  "social" 
increment  of  wealth  for  Communism. 

As  to  Number  Two:  Graduated  taxation  in 
Britain  is  an  attempt  to  equalise  the  present 
unfair  distribution  of  wealth,  and  is  already 
at  work  in  the  death  duties  and  in  the  difference 
in  the  income  tax  between  earned  and  unearned 
wealth,  both  the  work  of  Individualism.  The 
strong  and  repeated  recommendations  of  this 
policy  by  President  Roosevelt  are  soon  to  bear 
fruit  in  the  United  States.  He  and  his  trusted 
advisers  are  Individualistic  to  the  core. 

Number  Three  is  only  Adam  Smith's  doctrine 
in  different  words.  The  non-taxation  of  im- 
ported food  by  Britain  under  Individualism  as 
far  as  it  has  gone  is  in  accordance  therewith. 

Number  Four  is  another  application  of 
Adam  Smith's  doctrine.  Until  physical  needs 
of  individual  and  family  are  provided  for,  there 
is  no  "ability"  to  pay  taxes. 

Thus  three  of  these  ideas  are  the  product 
of  Individualism,  and  should  bear  its  "hall 
mark,"  not  the  Socialist  label. 

Mr.  Jowett  pastes  the  Socialistic  label  upon 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  123 

the  '*  proper  rating  of  site  values,"  as  if  this  did 
not  prevail  under  Individualism  throughout  our 
English-speaking  race,  except  in  the  old  home. 

Mr.  Macdonald,  regarded  as  the  most  philo- 
sophical of  current  Socialistic  writers,  while 
indulging  in  dreams  of  a  far  distant  future, 
naturally  restricts  action  in  our  day  to  practical 
measures.  There  is  only  to  be  *'a  steady  read- 
justment of  existing  relations  until  the  organic 
structure  has  been  completely  changed."  He 
lays  down  as  ripe  for  action  the  seven  points 
in  the  Independent  Labor  Party  programme, 
which  he  says  is  far  and  away  the  most  repre- 
sentative Socialist  body  in  Britain,  thus  stamp- 
ing the  Socialistic  label  upon  all  these  points. 

First  in  these  comes  an  "Eight-hours  Day." 
One  naturally  inquires  under  what  system 
the  hours  of  labor  have  been  reduced  from 
twjelve  and  more  to  ten  hours  or  less.  Long 
before  Socialism  attracted  the  public,  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  excessive  hours  of  labor  was  the  care 
of  progressive  men  under  the  present  Individ- 
ualistic system  in  all  English-speaking  countries. 
Whether  these  can  be  wisely  reduced  still  further 
is  under  consideration.  To  put  the  Socialistic 
label  upon  the  policy  of  shortening  the  hours 
of  labor  is  **as  flat  burglary  as  ever  was 
committed." 


lU  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

Second  comes  "a  workable  Unemployed  Act." 
Mark  the  adjective.  The  attention  of  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  was  given  last  year  to  this  very 
question.  It  is  a  difficult  task  to  meet  w^ithout 
doing  more  injury  than  good:  when,  or  if,  a 
workable  Act  is  produced  parties  will  then  take 
their  positions. 

Third, ''  Old  Age  Pensions."  Mr.  Macdonald 
is  here  a  day  behind  the  fair.  These 
have  been  established  in  Britain  before  this 
appears  in  print,  both  political  parties  being 
favorable.  Socialism  will  have  little  right 
to  label  "Old  Age  Pensions"  as  its  product. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  product  of  the  best 
elements  of  both  political  non-Socialistic  parties. 

Number  Four  is  the  "abolition  of  indirect 
taxation  (and  the  gradual  transference  of  all 
public  burdens  to  unearned  incomes)."  Here 
we  must  read  the  bracketed  words  in  the  light 
of  Mr.  Macdonald's  philosophy.  This  is  a 
consummation  which  cannot  be  reached  "until 
the  organic  structure  has  been  completely 
changed."  As  far  as  the  doctrine  of  lessening 
indirect  taxation  is  concerned,  it  has  been  in 
practice  since  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  gave 
free  food  for  the  people.  It  is  a  wise  policy. 
In  America  there  are  no  duties  of  moment, 
except  such  as  bear  upon  the  rich,  who  alone 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  125 

use  imported  articles;  a  protective  tax  recently 
imposed  upon  sugar,  to  test  the  ability  of  the 
country  to  produce  its  own  supply,  being  the 
only  exception. 

Number  Five  is  "a  series  of  land  acts 
(aimed  at  the  ultimate  nationalisation  of  the 
land).  See  note  to  Number  Four  as  to  the 
words  bracketed.  Britain  needs  a  series  of 
land  acts  to  bring  her  where  all  other  English- 
speaking  lands  stand.  None  have  primogeni- 
ture or  settlements.  All  rate  sites  at  market 
prices.  Land  is  everywhere  free  except  in 
Britain,  and  this  has  long  been  the  case  under 
Individualism.  Socialism  has  no  right  to  the 
label  of  Free  Land,  except  as  applicable  to 
Britain,  and  even  here  a  large  number  of  non- 
Socialists  have  long  urged  the  policy. 

Sixth,  "Nationalisation  of  Railways  and 
Mines."  As  far  as  railways  are  concerned. 
Individualism  has  preceded  Socialism  in  this 
department.  Many  countries  own  their  rail- 
ways. India  under  British  control  does,  as 
also  do  some  of  the  colonies.  So  do  Austria, 
France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  etc.  Mines  are 
precarious  properties,  and  should  be  leased 
upon  royalties  when  owned  by  the  State.  In 
some  cases  this  is  already  done. 

Seventh,     ''Democratic    political    reforms." 


126  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

This  is  so  indefinite  that  nothing  can  be  said 
upon  the  subject.  The  reforms  are  in  sup- 
position so  far,  and  must  be  judged  upon  their 
merits  when  announced  from  time  to  time. 
In  all  Enghsh-speaking  lands  under  Individual- 
ism, democratic  reforms  have  long  been  the 
order  of  the  day,  never  more  so  than  now. 

Mr.  Hardie  claims  there  is  perfect  agreement 
among  Socialists  on  two  leading  points,  the 
first  being  **  hostility  to  Militarism  in  all  its 
forms,  and  to  war  as  a  method  of  settling  dis- 
putes between  nations." 

Such  of  us  as  have  inherited  this  doctrine 
under  Individualism  and  proclaimed  it  all  our 
lives  rejoice  that  any  body  of  men  agree  with 
us,  but  we  of  the  Peace  and  Arbitration  Societies 
in  every  English-speaking  land  who  have  up- 
held the  doctrine,  respectfully  protest  against 
the  Socialists'  use  of  a  label  to  which  the  In- 
dividualistic men  of  peace  have  prior  claim. 
Opposition  to  war  and  support  of  arbitration 
have  developed  under  present  conditions,  and 
grow  stronger  with  leaps  and  bounds  these 
days,  and  are  soon  to  triumph.  One  great 
victory  is  seen  in  Chile  and  Argentina  ceasing 
to  wage  war  and  agreeing  to  settle  disputed 
boundaries  peacefully;  they  did  so  and  both 
conquered.       There     now     stands     upon     the 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  127 

highest  peak  of  their  boundary  line  a  statue 
of  Christ  as  Prince  of  Peace,  cast  from  their 
discarded  cannon.  The  pedestal  bears  this 
inscription:  "Sooner  shall  these  mountains 
crumble  to  dust  than  Chileans  and  Argentines 
shall  break  the  peace,  which  at  the  foot  of 
Christ  the  Redeemer  they  have  sworn  to  main- 
tain." Socialism  has  no  place  in  these  lands. 
Scarcely  a  week  passes  without  one  or  more 
treaties  of  arbitration  between  nations  being 
entered  into. 

All  the  nations  assembled  last  year  for  the 
first  time  at  The  Hague  Peace  Conference  and 
voted  for  obligatory  arbitration,  only  eight  dis- 
senting, and  these  declaring  they  would  make 
separate  treaties  with  selected  nations.  Some 
such  have  already  been  made  and  others  are 
now  under  consideration. 

All  this  progress  in  the  path  of  peace  among 
nations  has  been  made  under  our  present 
system,  and  Socialism  as  such  has  no  exclusive 
right  to  place  its  label  upon  the  triumphs  of 
peaceful  arbitration.  Members  of  all  parties 
have  cooperated  in  this,  the  most  pressing  duty 
of  our  day  —  the  banishment  from  the  civilised 
world  of  the  crime  of  crimes,  the  killing  of  men 
by  men  in  battle  like  wild  beasts,  as  a  mode 
of  settling  international  disputes. 


i2S  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

As  we  see,  there  is  much  that  evolutionary 
SociaHsts  advocate  and  claim  to  be  Socialistic 
which  we  Progressives  have  long  welcomed. 
The  municipalisation  of  certain  public  utilities 
is  undoubtedly  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  but 
this  had  already  been  done  under  our  present 
system  before  Socialism  was  much  talked  about. 
It  has  been  proved  that  cities  can  advantage- 
ously own,  in  some  cases  operate,  and  in  other 
cases  lease  for  periods,  their  public  utilities 
—  water,  gas  and  electric  works,  street  rail- 
ways, etc. —  and  that  they  can  purchase  and 
improve  land  to  advantage  in  certain  districts, 
and  could  do  much  more  in  that  line  in  Britain 
were  the  laws  like  those  of  America  and  other 
English-speaking  nations. 

We  have,  perhaps,  one  of  the  best  examples 
of  this  beneficent  policy  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  now  containing  more  than  four  millions 
of  people.  It  never  parted  with  its  riparian 
rights,  and  owns  these  around  the  island,  giving 
it  more  than  twenty  miles  of  water  front.  Some 
years  ago  it  began  building  docks,  issuing 
bonds  therefor,  with  a  sinking  fund  for  their 
redemption.  The  rentals  obtained  for  the  docks 
meet  the  interest  and  sinking  fund  and  leave 
a  profit  so  great  that  it  is  estimated  the  city 
will  possess  the  gigantic  property  free  of  cost 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  129 

before  the  bonds  mature.  The  city  is  con- 
tracting for  rapid  transit  subways,  the  building 
and  operating  contractors  agreeing  to  pay  the 
interest  and  sinking  fund,  and  hand  over  the 
subways  to  the  city  free  of  cost  at  the  end  of 
fifty  years.  No  franchises  will  hereafter  be 
bestowed  by  New  York  City  except  for  stated 
periods.  It  is  becoming  the  general  policy 
of  cities  in  America  to  avoid  giving  perpetual 
leases.  Municipalisation  to  this  extent  is 
steadily  winning  its  way.  The  water  supply 
is  another  instance.  The  foresight  of  New 
York  has  secured  at  comparatively  small  cost, 
because  taken  in  time,  one  hundred  gallons 
per  head  daily  for  eight  millions  of  people. 
The  city  owns  all  this  supply,  furnishing  a 
great  contrast  to  London.  It  also  secured 
years  ago,  at  small  cost,  seven  thousand  acres 
of  land  admirably  adapted  for  city  parks, 
which  are  now  being  rapidly  utilised  as  popu- 
lation spreads  around  them. 

The  cooperative  movement,  wholesale  and 
retail,  in  which  manufacturing  begins  to  make 
its  appearance,  is  another  development  upon 
which  the  Socialistic  label  is  often  put,  but 
cooperation  was  adopted  many  years  ago.  The 
members  thus  get  control  to  some  extent,  in 
OJQ^  branch,  of  the  means  of  production  and 


130  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

distribution.  In  this  field  there  is  desirable 
progress,  but  we  note  in  ail  that  has  been  done 
so  far  in  this  direction  the  parting  of  the  ways 
between  IndividuaUsm  and  SociaHsm.  The 
latter  has  as  its  aim  a  State  in  which  "every  man 
renders  service  according  to  his  ability  and 
receives  according  to  his  needs."  The  needs 
of  men  in  the  main  are  common.  Among  a 
hundred  men  thrown  upon  an  island,  there  would 
be  found  little  difference.  All  could  be  treated 
alike.  This  would  be  pure  Socialism;  but  in 
working  municipal  tramways,  gas,  and  water- 
works,  and  in  the  management  of  cooperative 
societies,  the  compensation  paid  has  no 
reference  to  common  needs.  It  is  paid  accord- 
ing to  the  value  of  service  rendered,  the  essence 
of  Individualism.  The  superintendent  of  the 
factory,  the  merchant  in  charge  of  the  coopera- 
tive store,  the  employees  down  through  the 
whole  list,  are  paid  exactly  upon  the  same  basis 
as  in  all  private  agencies  of  production.  There 
is  not  a  trace  of  Socialism  here.  In  this  vast 
field  of  progress  all  remains  Individualistic. 

Socialism  versus  Individualism  is  the  race 
between  the  hare  and  the  tortoise  over  again. 
Individualism  —  the  tortoise  —  has  found  and 
kept  the  path  upon  which  it  has  made  and  is 
making   steady   progress   upward.     Never   has 


INDI\1DUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  131 

the  tortoise  had  to  stop  long  m  its  ascent,  but, 
always  carefully  putting  out  its  limbs,  intuitively 
the  steadily  moving  creature  finds  and  treads 
the  way  onward  and  upward,  moving  neither 
to  the  right  nor  left  until  certain  it  is  right, 
and  then  steadily  pushing  forward. 

The  hare  has  not  yet  made  a  start.  It  remains 
just  where  it  was  years  ago,  frisking  round  a 
circle.  It  knows  w^here  it  wishes  to  end,  tells 
us  that  clearly,  but  not  how,  when,  or  where 
it  is  to  begin.  One  point  it  has  settled,  however. 
It  will  not  tread  the  tortoise  path  of  Individual- 
ism, nor  any  path  but  that  which  our  prehistoric 
ancestors  trod  many  thousands  of  years  ago, 
and  which  their  progeny  abandoned  after  years 
of  trial  and  failure.  The  frisky  hare  to-day 
insists  upon  opening  up  again  this  abandoned 
path,  and  keeps  scratching  the  earth  and 
raising  a  dust  as  if  it  were  preparing  to  start, 
but  there  is  no  saying  whether  it  will  do  so  in 
our  generation.  Meanwhile  the  tortoise,  as 
we  see,  continues  moving  unceasingly  upward, 
that  which  is,  better  than  that  which  has  been, 
and  that  which  is  to  come,  better  than  that 
which  is.  Lovers  of  progress  cannot  but  hail 
its  ascent  as  leading  to  the  light.  Foolish  indeed 
would  Labor  be  to  retard  this  steady  advance 
until  the  hare  has  given  some  evidence  of  ability 


13^         PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

at  least  to  start,  and  demonstrate  by  experi- 
ment that  it  can  overtake  and  distance  its  rival. 
President  Lincoln,  when  asked  where  General 
Sherman  was  going  with  his  army  in  the  march 
through  Georgia,  replied,  ''I  know  where  he 
went  in,  but  I  don't  believe  the  General  himself 
knows  where  he  is  going  to  come  out/'  Social 
ism  is  in  that  position. 

Let    the    Socialist    produce    one    enterprise 
managed    upon    Socialistic    principles    as    pro 
claimed.     "To  put  an  end  forever  to  the  wage 
system,  to  sweep  away  all  distinctions  of  class. "-•• 

"The  complete  emancipation  of  Labor  from 
the  domination  of  capitalism  and  landlordism, 
with  the  establishment  of  social  and  economic 
equality  between  the  sexes.^'t 

So  far  as  experiments  with  these  doctrines 
have  been  attempted,  as  Hepworth  Dixon 
informs  us,  they  have  failed.  There  have 
been  some  attempts  to  live  together  by  small 
parties  of  mature  age^  seeking  a  retreat  from 
active  life.  These  ventures  lay  in  the  eddies  out 
of  the  rushing  current  of  human  existence,  their 
members  striving  to  content  themselves  with 
the  present,  while  the  part  which  active  men 
have   to   play   on   earth   is   that   of   improving 

*  Joint  Manifesto,  British  Socialist  Bodies, 
t  Social  Democratic  Association. 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS  SOCIALISM  133 

conditions  in  every  direction,  making  new 
discoveries,  inventing  new  machines  and  pro- 
cesses, and  extending  the  boundaries  of  knowl- 
edge. This  is  man's  life  work  on  earth,  one 
of  development  toward  the  more  perfect  day: 
nothing  yet  finished,  but  all  growing  better 
through  his  strenuous  exertions.  *'Rest  and 
be  thankful"  is  for  another  existence.  Until 
Socialists  can  point  to  successful  communities 
based  upon  their  principles  fulfilling  this  mission 
of  progress,  the  Socialistic  question  is  not  within 
range  of  consideration  —  all  is  mere  speculation, 
vain  imaginings  of  a  supposed  heaven  upon 
earth,  as  illusory  as  other  dreams. 

All  that  is  desirable  and  even  possible  as 
man  exists  to-day  is  being  accomplished  — 
too  slowly,  we  agree,  much  too  slowly  —  but 
in  no  small  measure  realised  from  generation 
to  generation  under  the  present  system,  which 
always  has  been  and  is  being  now  and  always 
must  be  steadily  modified  and  improved  as 
man  correspondingly  advances  and  is  himself 
modified  and  improved,  but  not  otherwise. 
Man  and  his  conditions  must  march  abreast, 
acting  and  reacting  upon  each  other,  that 
improvement  may  be  evolved.  This  is  the  law 
of  his  being. 

In  considering  the  wisdom  of  change  from 


134  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

our  present  Individualistic  to  the  proposed 
Socialistic  system  our  first  inquiry  should  be. 
How  has  the  former  resulted  ?  Has  the  human 
race  marched  backward  and  deteriorated,  or 
has  it  advanced  and  improved  ?  If  the  former, 
we  should  welcome  a  promising  change,  and 
give  it  a  trial  tentatively  upon  a  moderate  scale. 
If  the  latter,  common  sense  prompts  us  to  refuse 
to  make  any  revolutionary  change,  and  to  con- 
tinue in  the  path  upon  which  we  have  marched 
and  are  still  marching  steadily  upward,  always 
pushing  hard  that  the  pace  may  be  hastened. 
We  find  that  from  the  dawn  of  history  until  now 
man,  overcoming  temporary  interruptions,  has 
steadily  developed,  making  great  progress  in 
every  field.  Contrast  his  condition  at  various 
periods  in  the  past  with  the  present  and  we 
have  one  unbroken  record  of  improvement, 
morally,  intellectually,  and  physically.  Infant 
mortality  is  very  much  less,  the  death-rate 
has  fallen,  the  average  of  life  has  lengthened. 
Pestilences  which  swept  away  our  progenitors 
are  to-day  unknown.  Many  diseases  once 
uncontrollable  are  now  conquered.  The  homes 
of  the  people  have  improved  and  the  poor  are 
now  taken  care  of.  The  food  and  clothing  of 
the  people  are  better,  hours  of  labor  less,  wages, 
much  higher.     Free  education  leaves  no  child 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS  SOCIALISM  135 

in  ignorance;  illiteracy  is  almost  unknown. 
Carlyle  only  ventured  to  imagine  a  future  when 
every  considerable  town  would  have  a  collection 
of  books;  now  they  have  free  public  libraries. 
Even  the  prisons  have  been  improved.  Sen- 
tences for  crime  have  been  lightened.  Man 
has  become  more  law-abiding  and  better 
behaved.  There  is  less  intem_perance,  and 
crime  is  less  frequent.  In  every  domain  thS 
comforts  of  life  have  been  increased,  its  miseries 
mitigated.  The  masses  of  the  people  are  better 
housed,  better  fed,  better  clothed,  better  edu- 
cated and  better  paid  than  ever  before,  and  the 
sums  in  the  savings  banks  were  never  so  great. 

In  the  field  of  labor  man  has  risen  from 
serfdom  and  controls  his  labor  as  an  equal 
with  his  employer,  and  in  our  own  day  is  begin- 
ning to  rise  from  workman  to  partner.  Labor 
unions,  cooperative  stores,  friendly  societies 
and  pension  funds,  have  all  been  developed. 

In  all  English-speaking  lands  the  rule  of  the 
people  prevails;  only  in  Britain  is  hereditary 
privilege  allow^ed  to  exist  and  obstruct  their  rule. 
Every  public  office  is  open  to  ability.  Power  is 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  masses  wherever  the 
English  language  is  spoken.  Never  have  the 
masses  made  such  rapid  and  substantial  progress 
as  in  recent  years,  and  never  were  there  withic 


136  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

their  reach  in  Britain  so  many  far-reaching 
improvements  in  the  laws,  which,  when 
adopted,  will  ensure  to  the  masses  the  ad- 
vantages already  possessed  by  their  own  race 
in  other  EngUsh-speaking  lands. 

The  various  sections  of  progressive  men  have 
only  to  unite  in  the  effort  to  free  the  old  home 
from  all  in  its  laws  that  keeps  it  in  contrast  to 
Canada,  Australasia,  and  America  as  govern- 
ments of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the 
people. 

It  is  under  such  encouraging  conditions  that 
the  Socialist  appears  and  distracts  the  masses, 
insisting  upon  discarding  the  system  under  which 
this  triumphal  march  has  been  made  —  the  only 
system  in  all  the  world's  long  history  under  which 
man  has  greatly  advanced.  That  the  organic 
structure  can  be  completely  altered  in  our  day, 
even  if  desired,  is  impossible.  That  the  alter- 
native Socialistic  scheme  proposed  can  be 
established  is  equally  so,  because  it  first  requires 
a  change  in  human  nature,  a  change  quite  as 
great  as  that  involved  in  the  evolution  of 
the  man-ape  into  the  savage  or  the  savage  into 
civilised  man. 

It  is  not  the  success  of  the  "presto,  change" 
campaign,  therefore,  that  is  to  be  feared,  nor 
even   the   attempt   to   establish    the    Socialistic 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  137 

state,  because  neither  is  possible  as  long  as 
human  nature  remains  what  it  is. 

Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald's  warning  before 
quoted,  we  hope,  will  sink  deep  into  the  minds 
of  the  earnest,  sympathetic,  able  men  who 
justly  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  masses  and 
are  numbered  among  their  leaders,  but  who 
at  the  present  juncture  are  devoting  their  time 
and  attention  to  the  Socialistic  system,  which 
cannot  be  established  except  by  '*a  steady 
readjustment  of  existing  relations  until  the 
organic  structure  has  been  completely  altered." 
To  effect  this  change  would  be  the  work  of 
centuries. 

The  Socialist  should  reflect  it  was  under 
immutable  law  decreed  that  there  should  be 
evolved  out  of  the  burning  mass  of  matter,  the 
fair  earth  with  all  its  charms;  out  of  the  beast, 
the  higher  organism  —  man  with  godlike  powers ; 
and  that  man  should  not  eat  the  bread  of  idle- 
ness, but  labor  from  morn  till  night  in  the  noble 
task  of  making  one  small  spot  on  earth,  one  small 
circle  of  his  fellows,  just  a  little  better  than  he 
found  it  —  a  high  mission  —  none  too  great, 
none  too  small  to  lose  the  privilege  or  to  neglect 
the  duty.  Man  does  the  latter  at  his  peril,  be 
he  cottager  or  king. 

So   long  as   man   on   earth   can   aid   in   the 


138  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

smallest  degree  the  progress  of  his  race  he 
should  rejoice.  How  much  fame  or  fortune  he 
acquires,  or  how  little,  matters  not,  so  long 
as  he  contributes  by  his  labor  and  example  to 
the  general  good.  This  is  the  true  end,  and 
should  be  the  aim,  of  life. 

Why  should  any  man  desirous  of  benefiting 
his  fellows  neglect  the  work  of  his  own  time 
which  it  is  his  duty  to  perform,  and  waste  his 
abilities  upon  purely  speculative  ideas  which  it 
may  or  may  not  become  the  duty  of  future  gener- 
ations of  men  to  adopt  ?  Our  duty  of  to-day  is 
with  to-day's  problems.  We  have  nothing  to  do 
with  those  of  the  distant  future.  We  cannot 
legislate  wisely  for  posterity.  It  is  sad  indeed 
to  see  able  and  good  men,  who  could  aid  in 
improving  the  present,  expending  their  talents 
upon  a  new  system  for  a  distant  future,  of  which 
they  can  know  nothing. 

It  is  in  this  world  that  all  our  duties  lie,  and 
only  our  own  generation  can  we  know  how  to 
serve.  Upon  it  our  thoughts  and  efforts  should 
therefore  be  concentrated.  It  is  a  serious  waste 
of  time  to  concern  ourselves  with  any  system 
which  we  know  cannot  be  introduced  until  the 
organic  relations  of  human  society  are  altered. 
Upon  the  men  of  to-day  only  the  work  of  to-day 
devolves. 


INDIVIDUALISM  VS.  SOCIALISM  139 

Not  "Heaven  our  Home"  our  motto,  so  much 
as  **Home  our  Heaven."  Franklin  was  right 
when  he  proclaimed  that  "The  highest  worship 
of  God  is  service  to  man."  Power  to  render 
service  to  the  Unknown  is  not  given  us  except 
by  serving  those  of  His  creatures  here  with  us 
in  our  own  day  and  generation. 

The  man  is  not  born  who  can  legislate  wisely 
for  a  future  which  has  not  been  revealed  to  him, 
and  of  which,  therefore,  he  can  know  nothing. 

Sufficient  unto  our  own  day  are  the  evils 
thereof.  These  we  should  endeavor  to  abolish 
or  mitigate,  leaving  the  future  to  our  successors. 


Variety  versus  Uniformity 


VARIETY  VERSUS  UNIFORMITY 

THE  Socialist  needs  to  revolutionise  human 
nature  before  he  can  even  test  his  theories, 
for  nature  abhors  a  vacuum  not  more  than  she 
does  uniformity.  No  two  blades  of  grass  are 
aUke,  and  the  higher  we  go  in  creation  the 
greater  the  variations:  no  two  fishes,  no  two 
animals  are  alike.  Huber  tells  us  he  was  able 
to  distinguish  the  individual  ants  in  the  hill, 
so  different  was  one  from  another.  Wlien 
humanity  is  considered,  no  two  children  but 
display  wide  differences,  the  more  intelligent 
being  the  more  individualistic.  No  two  families 
are  alike,  and  were  all  placed  under  similar  con- 
ditions, houses  and  grounds  alike,  incomes 
equal,  next  day  differences  would  begin  to  appear 
and  to  increase  as  time  went  on.  The  children 
of  able,  prudent  parents  would  be  differentiated 
from  those  whose  parents  were  less  able.  No 
laws  of  the  State  could  prevent  this.  Uniformity 
to-day  would  inevitably  become  variation  to- 
morrow. Before  Socialism  can  introduce  uni- 
formity of  living,  men  must  be  born  duplicates 
of  each  other;  yet  in  none  of  nature's  produc- 
es 


144         PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

tions  is  diversity  so  great,  because  man  is  the 
highest  and  most  complex  of  all. 

We  can  no  more  make  men  equally  com- 
fortable through  equal  incomes  than  we  can 
make  them  equal  in  fortune  by  distributing  the 
wealth  of  the  country  among  them.  One  week 
after  such  distribution  there  would  be  thousands 
penniless  and  begging  their  bread,  their  last  state 
worse  than  the  first. 

Because  revolutionary  Socialism  requires  a 
change  in  human  nature,  it  calls  for  scant  atten- 
tion. It  is  impossible  to  introduce,  much  less 
to  maintain,  the  Socialistic  state,  until  human 
nature  becomes  totally  different  from  what  it  is 
now.  WTien  the  Socialist  has  effected  this 
change,  but  not  before,  is  the  abandonment  of 
the  present  system  worthy  of  the  slightest  atten- 
tion. It  is  not  in  order  as  long  as  men  differ 
from  each  other  —  no  two  alike  but  all  equally 
determined  to  live  each  his  own  life  in  his  own 
way,  this  being  his  nature.  This  is  the  law  of 
progress  of  his  race,  as  it  is  of  plant  and 
animal  life. 

By  selection  and  cultivation  of  the  exceptional 
animal  or  plant  —  that  showing  the  greatest 
"variation"  from  the  ordinary  type — breeders 
and  cultivators  develop  the  higher  orders  of  life. 
Thus  has  come  man  from  the  brute.     The  race 


VARIETY  VS.  UNIFORMITY       145 

has  been  allowed  to  develop  in  freedom,  hence, 
while  still  savage,  the  stronger  physically  was  the 
foremost,  and  later,  under  civilisation,  the 
strongest  mentally  have  become  the  leaders, 
from  whom  have  arisen  the  select  few  whose 
names  stand  out  in  history  as  the  exceptional 
members  of  our  race,  whose  labors  and  example, 
in  all  the  higher  domains  of  human  effort,  have 
slowly  lifted  the  race  to  its  present  position, 
infinitely  higher  than  it  was  only  a  few  hundreds 
of  years  ago. 

Not  uniformity,  but  infinite  diversity,  ensured 
this  progress,  and  as  far  as  we  can  see,  it  is 
through  diversity  alone  that  the  race  can 
continue  its  upward  march.  The  exceptional 
man  in  every  department  must  be  permitted 
and  encouraged  to  develop  his  unusual  powers, 
tastes  and  ambitions  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
which  prevail  in  everything  that  lives  or  grows. 
The  "survival  of  the  fittest"  means  that  the 
exceptional  plants,  animals,  or  men  which  have 
the  needed  "variations"  from  the  common 
standard,  are  the  fructifying  forces  which  leaven 
the  whole.  Among  these  are  the  great  teachers 
and  law-givers,  the  poets  and  statesmen,  phy- 
sicians and  historians,  the  inventors  and  dis- 
coverers, who  lead  the  mass  of  more  uniform 
pattern    onward    and    upward.     The    contrast 


146         PROBLEMS   OF  TO-DAY 

between  Shakespeare  and  the  ordinary  specimen 
of  humanity  is  as  great  as  that  between  the 
average  civiUsed  man  and  the  barbarian. 

A  few  pages  of  this  book  would  hold  the 
names  of  the  truly  exceptional  men  who  have 
distinctly  moved  the  human  race  forward  since 
history  began.  Many  indeed  have  contributed 
thereto,  and  in  the  widest  sense  no  individual  can 
live  a  good,  useful  life  without  contributing  his 
mite  to  the  general  weal,  but  those  who  have 
achieved  a  decided  advance  in  any  one  of  the 
innumerable  paths  of  human  effort  have  been 
few  in  number,  although  they  built  upon  the 
work  of  many  predecessors.  Burbank  grows 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  plants,  sometimes 
millions,  before  the  exceptional  variation  appears 
from  which  a  new  variety  can  be  developed, 
capable  of  producing  superior  fruit.  So  with 
man,  who  must  be  left  in  perfect  freedom,  as 
long  as  he  infringes  not  upon  the  freedom  of 
others,  nor  injures  the  State,  free  to  choose  his 
career  and  live  his  own  life  in  his  own  way,  the 
rule  being  perfect  freedom,  limitation  of  that 
always  exceptional  and  only  exercised  when 
overpowering  reasons  arise  rendering  interfer- 
ence necessary  to  protect  the  freedom  of  others, 
and  thus  prevent  greater  evils  to  the  body  politic. 

Under  present  conditions,  which  give  to  all 


VARIETY  VS.  UNIFORMITY      147 

men  liberty  to  carve  out  their  careers,  a  wool- 
carder  hears  and  obeys  the  imperious  call  from 
on  high,  and  gives  to  man  the  masterpieces  of 
literature,  a  precious  legacy,  according  to  Lowell 
worth  more  than  all  the  ancient  classics. 

A  poor  ploughman,  he  *'  who  of  all  men  nestles 
closest  to  the  bosom  of  humanity,"  sees  the  lovely 
''vision"  that  comes  to  him  in  his  "auld  clay 
biggin,"  and  under  her  guidance  he  proclaims 
the  '* Royalty  of  Man,"  exalts  ''Honest  Poverty," 
strikes  down  the  cruel  "Theology"  of  his  day, 
and  hails  the  unfortunate  mouse  as  his  "poor 
earth-born  companion  and  fellow-mortal,"  to 
him  all  life  being  kin.  A  young  man  ordered  to 
manage  a  farm  rebels  and  follows  his  destiny, 
and  in  one  word,  "gravitation,"  reveals  to  the 
world  the  law  that  pervades  the  universe.  To 
two  English  lads,  both  remarkable  for  originality 
and  hard  to  place,  while  still  groping,  the  revela- 
tion came;  each  found  his  destiny,  and  from 
their  seclusion,  after  years  of  labor,  they  proclaim 
the  word  which  brought  order  out  of  chaos, 
"Evolution";  and  man,  no  longer  the  supposed 
degraded  creature  fallen  from  his  high  estate, 
stands  forth  to-day  in  his  majesty,  the  monarch 
of  all  created  things,  endowed  with  sublime 
aspiration  for  continual  ascent,  no  limit  to  his 
future  elevation  short  of  perfection. 


148  PROBLEMS   OF  TO-DAY 

Four  hundred  years  ago,  a  Scottish  boy, 
soon  left  an  orphan  in  poverty,  the  spirit  moving 
within  him  at  maturity,  lived  to  publish  the 
first  germ  of  Democracy  in  Britain,  proclaiming 
that  "all  power  resided  in  the  people,  and  kings 
were  only  to  be  supported  as  long  as  they  wrought 
their  people's  good."  Forty  years  later  came  one 
of  his  pupils,  soon  also  left  an  orphan,  who  heard 
the  call  of  destiny  as  a  disciple  of  his  predecessor. 
When  asked  by  King  James  if  it  were  not  an 
offence  against  God  to  oppose  **the  Lord's 
anointed,"  he  replied,  *'Man,  you  are  only  the 
Lord's  silly  vassal,"  and  largely  to  these  two 
pioneers  of  democracy,  supported  seventy  years 
later  in  England  by  him  of  the  "organ  voice," 
a  poor  scrivener,  our  race  owes  constitutional 
government. 

The  son  of  a  French  tanner  finds  his  mis- 
sion and  consecrates  his  life  to  it.  "The  most 
horrible  of  all  diseases,"  hitherto  incurable, 
is  conquered;  the  death-rate  reduced  to  1  per 
cent.  Surgical  practice  is  revolutionised.  Later 
he  rescues  the  silk  industry  from  an  epidemic  of 
fatal  character.  A  working  wharfinger  in  Genoa, 
fired  by  the  gods,  sees  in  imagination  what  lies 
over  the  seas,  and  reveals  the  new  world. 

A  poor  student,  getting  access  at  last  to  a 
small  telescope,  follows  the  stars  and  revolu- 


VARIETY  VS.  UNIFORMITY      149 

lionises  human  conceptions  of  the  planetary 
system. 

A  German  physician,  giving  gratuitous  ser- 
vice to  the  poor  and  perforating  the  walls  of 
his  humble  dwelling  that  he  might  note  the  stars 
in  their  passage,  keeping  for  many  years  the 
momentous  secret  in  his  bosom  lest  the  stake 
were  his  destiny,  at  last  reveals  to  the  world  the 
Copernican  theory. 

A  boy,  having  learned  dentistry,  and,  in  its 
practice,  seeing  the  agonies  of  his  patients,  hears 
the  call  to  his  mission,  discovers  the  antidote  in 
ether,  and  henceforth  in  sweet,  unconscious 
sleep  pain  finds  its  conqueror. 

A  German  printer  apprentice,  noted  for 
devotion  to  his  work  and  studying  the  means 
of  improvements,  finds  the  answer  in  mov- 
able types,  which,  through  the  printed  page, 
make  knowledge  universal. 

A  Scottish  mechanic,  making  odds  and  ends 
for  a  livelihood,  is  fascinated  by  Black's  dis- 
covery of  the  latent  heat  in  steam,  his  life  there- 
after is  concentrated  upon  the  problem  of  its 
utilisation  and  the  steam-engine  appears;  a 
working  engineer  extends  its  dominion  over  the 
sea,  a  miner  stretches  it  over  the  land;  and  the 
world  shrinks  into  a  neighborhood.  A  printer's 
lad  in  Philadelphia,  visited  by  the  genii  when 


150  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

"commercing  with  the  skies,"  draws  electricity 
from  heaven,  and  the  world  to-day  is  in  con- 
stant instantaneous  communication.  A  youth 
in  our  own  day  hears  the  imperious  call,  and, 
most  mysterious  of  all,  we  have  wireless  com- 
munication across  the  Atlantic.  An  apprentice 
to  a  surgeon,  appalled  at  the  ravages  of  an 
infectious  disease,  hears  the  spirit's  summons  to 
be  up  and  doing  and  a  wasting  plague  is 
conquered. 

An  American  telegraph  messenger  boy,  car- 
ried by  the  gods  into  the  mysterious  realm,  pro- 
duces duplex  telegraphy,  gives  to  the  world 
improved  electric  lighting,  the  phonograph, 
and  other  wonders,  and  is  still  diving  into  the 
unknown.  Another  Scot,  still  busy  with  the 
gods,  produces  the  telephone.  Another  Scottish 
mechanic  discovers  coal-gas,  and  uses  it  for  the 
first  time  to  light  his  humble  home. 

An  English  ironmaster  invents  plans  for  the 
use  of  pit  coal  instead  of  charcoal  for  smelting 
ironstone ;  a  Scottish  lad  who  left  school  at  four- 
teen invents  the  hot-blast ;  and  these  two  Britons 
revolutionise  the  manufacture  of  iron. 

A  German,  after  years  of  effort,  finally  invents 
a  new  process  of  steel-making,  cheapening  that 
indispensable  article.  A  Scottish  workman  adds 
the  one  lacking  ingredient.     Another  German 


VARIETY  VS.  UNIFORMITY       151 

follows  with  another  process,  and  steel  becomes 
the  indispensable  slave  of  progress. 

Three  Englishmen  —  a  hand-loom  w^eaver, 
a  reedmaker,  and  an  apprentice  —  through 
their  inventions  —  the  fly-shuttle,  the  spinning- 
jenny,  and  the  spinning-frame  —  give  the  world 
modern  weaving,  of  all  manufacturing  industries 
the  greatest  employer  of  labor. 

A  poor  young  American,  employed  upon  the 
Mississippi  in  a  trading  barge,  sees  for  the 
first  time  men  and  women  bought  and  sold  upon 
the  auction-block  and  is  stirred  by  the  Divine 
messenger.  Leaving  the  scene,  he  vows,  "If 
ever  I  get  a  chance  to  strike  that  accursed  system, 
I  shall  hit  it  hard."  He  concentrates  himself 
to  his  holy  mission  and  banishes  the  last  vestige 
of  slavery  from  the  civilised  w  orld. 

Pages  more  could  be  filled  with  such  instances 
of  beneficent  leadership  developed  under 
Individualism. 

Seldom  if  ever  to  the  palace  or  stately  home 
of  wealth  comes  the  messenger  of  the  gods  to 
call  men  to  such  honor  as  follows  supreme  ser- 
vice to  the  race.  Rank  has  no  place.  Wealth 
robs  life  of  the  heroic  element,  the  sublime 
consecration,  the  self-sacrifice  of  ease,  needed 
for  the  steady  development  of  our  powers  and 
the  performance   of   the   highest   service.     Let 


152  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

workmen  note  how  many  of  the  eKceptionals, 
indicated  in  the  preceding  pages,  who  have 
carried  the  race  forward,  were  workers  with  their 
hands : 


Shakespeare 

GUTTENBERG 

Columbus 

Kay 

Morton 

Edison 

Watt 

Murdoch 

Jentster 

Siemens 

Bell 

Hargreaves 

Neilson 

Bessemer 

Ark  WRIGHT 

Stephenson 

Lincoln 

Mushet 

Franklin 

Symington 

Burns 

All  these  began  as  manual  workers.  There 
is  not  one  rich  nor  titled  leader  in  the  whole 
list.  All  were  compelled  to  earn  their  bread. 
Most  of  them,  however,  but  not  all,  in  due 
time  abandoned  labor  of  the  hands,  a  salutary 
development,  and  one  which  every  w^orking- 
man  should  aspire  to.  Honorable  and  necessary 
as  manual  labor  is,  let  us  gladly  greet  productive 
labor  of  the  mind  as  of  a  higher  order,  as  the 
spirit  is  above  the  flesh,  although  it  must  never 
be  forgotten  that  in  the  skilled  labor  of  our 
day  a  union  of  both  brain  and  muscle  is  impera- 
tively needed.  The  trained  first-class  mechanic 
now  works  as  much  with  his  brain  as  with  his 
hands,  and,  if  in  charge  of  machinery,  much 
more. 

The  dingy  room,  the  close  laboratory,  the 
crowded  workshop  and  the  home  of  honest 
poverty,  contain  the  exceptionals,  capable  of 
carrying  forward  the  mission  of  the  race  upon 


VARIETY  VS.  UNIFORMITY       153 

earth,  which  is  in  each  succeeding  generation 
to  make  this  life  a  little  higher  and  better. 

In  our  day  it  is  very  far  from  true  that  labor 
creates  all  wealth,  and  still  further  from  the 
truth  that  labor  fixes  values;  but  it  is  very  close 
to  the  truth  that  so  far  the  young  man  reared 
in  poverty,  who  must  work  that  he  may  eat, 
has  developed  the  qualities  upon  the  exercise 
of  which  the  progress  of  our  race  depends. 

Little  has  been  contributed  in  the  past  by 
either  the  rich  or  the  titled  to  the  world's 
advancement,  and  little  can  be  expected  in 
the  future.  These  classes  lack  the  spur  of 
necessity,  and  being  well  placed  naturally  rest 
contented.  So  would  the  poor  were  positions 
reversed.  This  is  human  nature  as  it  exists 
in  our  day.  The  exceptional  rich  man  or 
youth  who  scorns  delights  and  lives  laborious 
days  (there  are  a  few  such)  deserves  double 
honor. 

Under  our  present  Individualistic  system, 
which  breeds  and  develops  the  needed  leaders, 
there  is  no  State  official  to  interpose  —  no 
communism,  no  uniformity,  no  commission 
to  consider  respective  claims  of  the  exceptionals 
and  decide  upon  their  destinies.  All  are  left 
in  perfect  freedom  and  in  the  possession  of 
glorious  liberty  of  choice,  free  ''by  the  sole  act 


154  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

of  their  own  unlorded  will"  to  obey  the  Divine 
call  which  consecrates  each  to  his  great  mission. 
One  point  is  clear.  Nothing  should  be  done 
that  would  tend  to  reduce  diversity  of  talents 
in  our  race,  and  everything  should  be  done  to 
increase  it  if  possible ;  for  it  is  through  "variation" 
the  progress  of  the  race  has  been  achieved  and 
is  to  come,  and  progress  is  the  chief  end  of 
existence.  This  is  what  we  are  here  for,  as 
is  proven  by  the  fact  that  progress  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher  has  prevailed  from  the 
time  this  earth  cooled  and  life  began  to  appear. 
This  is  our  God-like  mission,  that  every  indi- 
vidual in  his  day  and  generation  push  on  this 
march  upward,  so  that  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion may  be  better  than  the  preceding.  Not 
one  of  us  can  feel  his  duty  done,  unless  he  can 
say  as  he  approaches  his  end,  that,  because  he 
has  lived,  some  fellow-creature,  or  some  little 
spot  of  earth  or  something  upon  it,  has  been 
made  just  a  little  better.  Nor  is  this  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  humblest,  for  all  can  at  least 
render  to  others  — 

"That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts  of  kindness  and  of  love." 


Family  Relations 


FAMILY  RELATIONS 

THE  most  serious  objection  to  Socialism 
one  hesitates  to  name,  but  this  cannot  be 
avoided.  We  gladly  believe  that  most  of  the 
so-called  Socialists  of  our  English-speaking 
race  would  repudiate  it,  and  yet  it  is  clear  that 
the  system  would  naturally  tend  to  produce,  at 
least  in  some  degree,  the  effects  feared.  We 
refer  to  the  foremost  of  civilisation's  triumphs 
—  the  creation  of  the  happy  home  —  the  product 
of  man  and  woman,  holily  married,  with  the 
blessings  of  children  coming  to  them,  to  give 
us  here  a  taste  of  heaven  on  earth.  Of  all  that 
evolution  has  given  man  during  the  long,  slow 
march  of  ages,  from  savagery  till  now,  this  is  the 
crown.  Take  this  away,  and  to  millions  who 
possess  it  —  the  best  of  the  race  —  life  becomes 
undesirable.  The  holy  of  holies  is  the  pure  and 
happy  home. 

We  have  been  treating  of  wealth,  land, 
labor.  Changes  regarding  these  are  unimpor- 
tant compared  with  threatened  changes  in 
our  family  relations.  That  way  degradation 
lies.      Here    rests    the    most    precious    root    of 

157 


158  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

all  that  elevates,  refines,  and  improves  human 
nature. 

The  writer  would  gladly  have  omitted  reference 
to  this  feature  of  Socialism,  but  he  felt  it  could  not 
be  ignored.  One  looks  in  vain  through  the 
booklets,  so  far  published,  for  a  repudiation 
of  the  sentiments  of  Socialistic  leaders, 
both  past  and  present,  who  admit  that  family 
relations  must  be  greatly  changed  under 
Socialism. 

The  writer  confesses  it  was  with  surprise  that 
he  found  several  modern  and  well-known  writers 
going  so  far  in  the  direction  of  accepting  the 
doctrine  that  Socialism  compelled  this  change. 

The  first  exponent  of  modern  Socialism, 
Fourier,  is  responsible  for  this  taint,  although 
even  Owen  quarrelled  with  the  accepted 
views  of  marriage,  so  that  it  is  not  a  recent 
development. 

It  appears  advisable  that  the  best-known 
writers  among  acknowledged  Socialists,  espe- 
cially those  of  our  own  race  occupying  eminent 
positions,  should  give  to  this  feature  prompt 
attention,  and,  we  trust,  public  repudiation. 

We  quote  from  "The  Case  against  Socialism," 
pp.  374-398: 

We  have  the  admission  of  the  leading  English 
Socialist  historian  of  Socialism,  in  no  less  a  work 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  159 

than  the  ** Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  that  "In 
the  Marx  school,  which  in  Socialism  is  by  far 
the  most  important  in  this  as  in  other  countries, 
there  is  a  tendency  to  denounce  the  legally  bind- 
ing contract  in  marriage.''^ 

The  connection,  however,  bases  itself  upon 
this,  as  treated  by  Lamartine  in  his  celebrated 
History  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1848: 
**  Communism  of  goods  leads,  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  to  communism  of  wives,  children, 
and  parents,  and  to  the  brutalisation  of  the 
species." 

Other  historians  have  arrived  at  a  like  con- 
clusion. Not  only  this,  but  Socialist  leaders 
have  themselves  admitted  all  that  Lamartine 
here  asserts,  save  only  his  last  conclusion. 
Jager,  in  his  "Socialismus,"  observes  that  the 
possession  of  land  and  soil  in  common,  if  it 
arises  out  of  Materialism,  leads  also  to  com- 
munity of  wives  as  being  another  expression  of 
materialistic  Communism. 

In  his  essay  treating  of  "Socialism  and  Sex," 
Professor  Karl  Pearson,  said  to  be  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  Socialist  writers  in  this 
country,  WTites:  "With  the  centuries  as  the 
last  traces  of  the  patriarchate  vanish,  as  woman 
obtains  rights  as  an  individual,  when  a  new  form 

*  Mr.  Thomas  Kirkup,  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  Vol,  XXII.,  p.  219. 


160  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

of  possession  is  coming  into  existence,  is  it 
rational  to  suppose  that  history  will  break  its 
hitherto  invariable  law,  and  that  a  new  sex- 
relationship  will  not  replace  the  old?"* 

In  a  later  passage  Professor  Pearson  throws 
further  light  upon  the  nature  of  this  "'new 
sex-relationship." 

In  his  essay  he  informs  us  that  woman  will 
be  the  ''physical  and  mental  equal"  of  man 
"in  any  sex-partnership  they  may  agree  to  enter 
upon.  For  such  w^oman  I  hold  that  the  sex- 
relationship,  both  as  to  form  and  substance, 
ought  to  be  a  pure  question  of  taste,  a  simple 
matter  of  agreement  between  the  man  and  her, 
in  which  neither  Society  nor  the  State  would  have 
any  need  or  right  to  interfere. "f 

This  latter  conclusion  Professor  Pearson  pro- 
ceeds to  modify  in  the  case  where  ''the  sex- 
relationship  does  result  in  children;  "then," 
so  Professor  Pearson  emphatically  declares, 
"  the  State  will  have  a  right  to  interfere  .  .  .  ;"f 
and,  apparently,  in  the  writer's  opinion,  will  be 
forced  to  interfere.  H 

.  •  .  «  .  • 

One  of  the  greatest  of  French  Socialist  writers. 


*  "  The  Ethic  of  Free  Thought,"  p.  431. 

^IMd.,  p.  440. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  442. 

USee  as  to  this  the  essay  on  "  Socialisi.i  and  Sex,"  Ibid.,  pp.  437-446. 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  161 

M.  Gabriel  Deville,  in  advocating  the  suppres- 
sion of  marriage  under  Socialism  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  "free  love,"  summarises  the  principal 
reasons  which  account  for  the  inherent  antipathy 
to  the  continuance  of  marriage  on  the  part  of 
Sociahsm,  saying:  ''Marriage  is  a  regulation  of 
property,  a  business  contract  before  being  a 
union  of  persons,  and  its  utility  grows  out  of  the 
economic  structure  of  a  society  which  is  based 
upon  individual  appropriation.  By  giving 
guarantees  to  the  legitimate  children,  and 
ensuring  to  them  the  paternal  capital,  it 
perpetuates  the  domination  of  the  caste  which 

monopolises  the    productive   forces 

When  property  is  transformed,  and  only  after 
that  transformation  marriage  will  lose  its  reason 
for  existence."* 

Bebel,  the  great  international  Socialist  leader, 
in  his  "Woman  and  Socialism"  (translated  into 
English  under  the  title  of  "Woman:  Her  Past, 
Present,  and  Future"),  expresses  much  the  same 
view  s  as  Deville  in  the  following  passage : 

"The  bourgeois  marriage  is  a  consequence 
of  bourgeois  property.  This  marriage,  stand- 
ing as  it  does  in  the  most  intimate  connection 
to  property  and  the  right  of  inheritance,  demands 


*  Quoted  by  Lecky  in  his  "  Democracy  and  Labor,"  Cabinet  Edition,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  348,  349. 


162  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

'  legitimate '  children  as  heirs.  It  is  entered  into 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  them,  and  the  pres- 
sure exercised  by  society  has  enabled  the  ruling 
classes  to  enforce  it  in  the  case  of  those  who  have 
nothing  to  bequeath.  But,  as  in  the  new 
community  there  will  be  nothing  to  bequeath 
.  .  .  compulsory  marriage  becomes  unneces- 
sary from  this  standpoint,  as  well  as  from  all 
others."* 

"The  existing  monogamic  relation,"  write 
two  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  English  Sociahsm 
—  Mr.  Belfort  Bax  and  Mr.  H.  Quelch  —  con- 
cerning  marriage,  *'is  simply  the  outcome  of  the 
institution  of  private  or  individual  property. 
.  .  .  When  private  property  ceases  to  be 
the  fulcrum  around  which  the  relations 
between  the  sexes  turn,  any  attempt  at  coercion, 
moral  or  material,  .  .  .  must  necessarily 
become  repugnant  to  the  moral  sense  of  the 
community."! 

Lecky  says:  "It^is  perfectly  true  that  mar- 
riage and  the  family  form  the  tap-root 
out  of  which  the  whole  system  of  hereditary 
property  grows,  and  that  it  would  be  utterly 
impossible    permanently    to  extirpate   heredity 

*Pp.  231,  232.    Quoted  in  W.  H.  Lecky's  "Democracy  and  Liberty,"  Cabinet 
Edition,  Vol.  II., "p.  S49. 
t  *'  A  New  Catechism  of  Socialism,"  p.  35.    (The  Twentieth  Century  Press.) 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  163 

unless  family  stability  and  family  affection  were 
annihilated.     .     .     ."* 
•  •••••• 

Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon,  who  has  devoted  special 
study  to  the  actual  working  of  communistic 
societies,  observes  that,  "The  fact  remained, 
and  in  time  it  became  known,  that  Fourier's 
system  could  not  be  reconciled  any  more  than 
Owen's  system  could  be  reconciled,  with  the 
partition  of  mankind  into  those  special  groups 
called  families,  in  which  people  live  together  a 
life  devised  by  nature,  under  the  close  relation  of 
husband  and  wife,  of  parent  and  child."t 

"The  very  first  conception  of  a  Socialistic 
State  is  such  a  relation  of  the  sexes,"  again 
writes  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon,  "as  shall  pre- 
vent men  and  women  from  falling  into  self- 
ish family  groups.  Family  life  is  eternally  at 
war  with  social  life.  When  you  have  a  private 
household  you  must  have  personal  property  to 
feed  it ;  hence  a  community  of  goods  —  the  first 
idea  of  a  Social  State  —  has  been  found  in  every 
case  to  imply  a  community  of  children  and  to 
promote  a  community  of  wives.  That  you  can- 
not have  Socialism  without  introducing  Com- 
munism   is    the    teaching    of    all    experience, 

*  "  Democracy  and  Liberty,"  Cabinet  Edition,  Vol.  II.,  p.  850, 
t"  Spiritual  Wives,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  220. 


164  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

whether  the  trials  have  been  made  on  a  large 
scale  or  on  a  small  scale,  in  the  old  world  or  in 
the  new."* 

The  late  Mr.  William  Morris,  in  company 
with  Mr.  Belfort  Bax,  has  written  in  denun- 
ciation of  the  present  ''sham"  morality,  the 
aim  of  which  "is  the  perpetuation  of  individual 
property  in   wealth,   in  workman,   in   wife,   in 

child."! 

Later  the  same  authors  tell  us  on  "the 
advent  of  social  economic  freedom"  that 
"property  in  children  would  cease  to  exist." 
"Thus,"  they  state,  "a  new  development  of 
the  family  would  take  place,  on  the  basis, 
not  of  a  predetermined  lifelong  business  arrange- 
ment, to  be  formally  and  nominally  held  to, 
irrespective  of  circumstances,  but  on  mutual 
inclination  and  affection,  an  association  termin- 
able at  the  will  of  either  party.  .  .  .  There 
would  be  no  vestige  of  reprobation  weighing  on 
the  dissolution  of  one  tie  and  the  forming  of 
another."! 

Mrs.  Snowden,  in  her  recently  published 
book,  "The  Woman  Socialist,"  informs  her 
readers : 


*  "  Spiritual  Wives"  Vol.  II..  p.  209, 

t  "Socialism:   Its  Growth  and  Outcome,  '  p.  10. 

t  "Socialisms   Its  Growth  and  Outcome,"  pp.  299,  SOO. 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  165 

"It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  ordinary 
Church  marriage  service  will  be  abolished. 
But  it  ought  to  be  abolished.  .  .  .  Under 
Socialism  the  marriage  service  will  probably 
be  a  simple  declaration  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  before  the  civil  representatives 
of  the  State."* 


To  much  the  same  effect  writes  Professor 
Karl  Pearson: 

"Such  then  seems  to  me  the  Socialistic  solu- 
tion of  the  sex  problem:  complete  freedom 
in  the  sex-relationship  left  to  the  judgment 
and  taste  of  an  economically  equal,  physically 
trained,  and  intellectually  developed  race  of 
men  and  women;  State  interference,  if  neces- 
sary, in  the  matter  of  child-bearing,  in  order 
to  preserve  inter-sexual  independence  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  limit  of  efficient  population 
on  the  other. "t 

"The  Socialistic  movement  with  its  new 
morality  and  the  movement  for  sex-equality," 
writes  Professor  Pearson  in  an  earlier  pas- 
sage,   "must    surely   and    rapidly    undermine 

*  "The  Woman  Socialist,"  pp.  60,  61. 
t  "The  Ethic  of  Free  Thought,"  p.  445. 


166  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

our  current  marriage  customs  and  marriage 
law."* 

Mr.  H.  M.  Hyndman  predicts  under 
Socialism  the  complete  change  in  all  family 
relations  which  must  issue  in  a  widely  extended 
Communism. f 

M.  Jules  Guesde,  one  of  the  leaders  of 
International  Socialism,  writes,  "The  family 
was  useful  and  indispensable  in  the  past, 
but  is  now  only  an  odious  form  of  prop- 
erty. It  must  be  either  transformed  or 
abolished."! 

There  are  other  quotations  in  the  book 
named,  which  we  refrain  from  quoting. 

In  judging  Socialism,  we  are  forced  to 
consider  this  aspect  of  the  question  and  see 
where  it  leads  us.  The  opinions  expressed,  we 
trust,  are  not  accepted  by  many  Socialists  of  our 
own  race.  What  concerns  us  is  whether  the 
result  of  the  Sociahstic  system  tends  to  change 
or  destroy  marriage  and  present  family  life  as 
it  exists  to-day. 

Socialism,  with  its  equal  conditions  of  life 
and  equal  incomes,  must  tend  to  evolve  the 
common  assembling  room,  the  aggregation  of 

*  "The  Ethic  of  Free  Thought,"  p.  437. 

t "  The  Historical  Basis  of  Socialism,"  p.  452. 

♦  "The  Socialist  Catechism,"  p.  72. 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  167 

members  in  one  common  building,  and  all 
the  features  of  the  barracks.  Mrs.  Besant 
pictures  these  conditions  — "  public  meal 
rooms,"  '*  large  dwellings  which  are  to  replace 
old-fashioned  cottages,"  *'one  great  kitchen," 
*'one  dining-hall,"  and  "one  pleasant 
tea-garden." 

The  result  of  all  this  must  be  to  destroy  the 
home  as  w^e  know  it,  and  tend  to  substitute 
the  ideal  of  the  Socialist,  all  people  being 
brethren  and  members  of  one  family  and  one 
home;  hereditary  w^ealth  and  hereditary  blood 
relationships  abolished,  father  and  son,  wife 
and  mother,  sisters  and  brothers  no  more  to 
each  other  than  other  members  of  the  one 
great  Socialistic  household.  The  ties  of  kindred, 
even  of  father  and  mother  and  children,  must 
eventually  sink  into  one  common  affection 
for  all. 

All  are  to  stand  upon  an  equality  of  relation- 
ship, one  to  the  other,  under  the  sway  of 
Socialism,  in  respect  of  homes,  property,  food, 
dress,  and  all  other  things.  Even  the  children 
are  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  State.  "But 
if  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  specially 
for  those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath  denied  the 
faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel,"  becomes 
obsolete,   for   the   home   of   Socialism    is    not 


168  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

to  be  Individualistic  but  Communistic.  It 
becomes  the  Socialist's  duty  henceforth  to 
provide  for  all  as  for  his  own,  they  being  mem- 
bers of  one  great  household  and  one  family. 
Such  is  apparently  the  final  aim  of  the  extreme 
Socialist.  This  would  mean  a  second  fall  of 
man.  Farewell  to  human  happiness  in  its 
purest,  most  elevating,  most  entrancing  form. 
Destroy  our  home  life  as  it  exists  to-day,  and 
we  may  well  lament  that  — 

"  The  wine  of  life  is  drawn,  and  the  mere  lees 
Is  left  this  vault  to  brag  of." 

Just  as  Socialism  goes  back  to  the  savage 
past  and  urges  man  to  return  to  Communism, 
so  seemingly  it  contemplates  the  return  of 
man  and  woman  to  barbarism  in  their  holiest 
relations,  if  w^e  are  compelled  to  accept  literally 
some  of  the  writers  quoted  in  "The  Case 
against  Socialism,"  as  true  exponents  of  the 
new  system. 

The  laws  of  Britain  compared  with  those 
of  America  are  less  favorable  to  woman,  and 
those  of  continental  nations  still  less  so;  under 
American  laws  she  has  proper  standing,  proving 
the  estimation  in  which  she  is  held  by  American 
men  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  Socialism 
being  a  continental  outgrowth,  the  references 
made  to  woman  by  French  and  German  Social- 


FAMILY  RELATIONS  169 

istic  writers,  some  of  which  we  have  ventured 
to  quote,  shock  our  sense  of  what  is  due  to 
beings  who  in  their  highest  development  are 
capable  of  reaching  heights  unattainable  by 
men. 

It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  respected 
leaders  of  Socialism  will  deal  effectively  with 
this  phase  of  the  question  by  repudiating  the 
sentiments  expressed. 

A  pagan  philosopher,  weighing  the  claims 
of  Christ  to  rank  among  the  great  teachers, 
would  probably  give  first  place  to  what  He 
did  for  the  elevation  of  woman.  Civilised 
man  in  his  upward  march  has  not  only  out- 
grown, he  has  reversed  the  Miltonic  idea  of 
Adam  and  Eve. 

"  For  contemplation  he  and  valor  formed. 
For  softness  she  and  sweet  attractive  grace; 
He  for  God  only,  she  for  God  in  him." 

In  the  happiest  and  holiest  homes  of  to-day, 
it  is  not  the  man  who  leads  the  wife  upward, 
but  the  infinitely  purer  and  more  angelic  wife 
whom  the  husband  reverently  follows  upon 
the  heavenly  path  as  the  highest  embodiment 
of  all  the  virtues  that  have  been  revealed  to  him : 
he  for  God  in  her.  Throughout  the  English- 
speaking  race  as  a  rule  to-day,  it  is  the  wife 
and  mother  who  sanctifies  the  home. 


170  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

If  all  the  dreams  of  the  wildest  Socialist 
were  realities  purchasable  at  the  cost  of  the 
present  happy  home  of  Individualism,  with 
wife  and  children,  the  sacrifice  were  too  great 
—  the  blow  to  our  civilisation  would  be  fatal. 


The  Long  March  Upward 


THE  LONG  MARCH  UPWARD 

IF  MAN  had  been  created  perfect,  but  with 
an  instinct  for  his  own  degradation,  and  if  he 
had  fallen  so  low  in  the  scale  as  to  become 
unfit  longer  to  live,  then  indeed  his  future 
might  well  be  despaired  of.  But  when  we 
know  that  instead  of  this  he  has  developed 
slowly  from  the  lower  orders  of  life,  constantly 
ascending  in  the  scale,  century  after  century, 
for  many  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  of  years, 
moving  steadily  toward  perfection,  we  can 
indulge  the  confident  expectation  that  there 
can  be  no  retrogression. 

We  behold  him  and  exclaim:  "What  a 
piece  of  work  is  a  man!  how  noble  in  reason! 
how  infinite  in  faculty!  in  form  and  moving 
how  express  and  admirable!  in  action  how 
like  an  angel!  in  apprehension  how  like 
a  god!" 

Only  through  exceptional  individuals,  the 
leaders,  man  has  been  enabled  to  ascend.  He 
is  imitative,  and  what  he  sees  another  do  he 
attempts  and  generally  succeeds  in  doing.  It  is 
the  leaders  who  do  the  new  things  that  count, 

173 


174  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

and  all  these  have  been  Individualistic  to  a 
degree  beyond  ordinary  men  and  worked  in 
perfect  freedom ;  each  and  every  one  a  character 
unlike  anybody  else;  an  original,  gifted  beyond 
others  of  his  kind,  hence  his  leadership. 

Men  are  not  created  alike:  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  infinite  variety,  not  only  in  the  powers 
bestowed  but  also  in  their  degree,  for  the  fruits 
of  men's  lives  depend  as  much  upon  the  amount 
of  the  same  powers  shared  with  others  as  upon 
different  powers  inherited.  The  earth  was  at 
first  only  a  ball  of  fire  thrown  off  from  our  sun, 
no  life  possible  upon  it  till  it  cooled,  millions 
of  years  probably  elapsing  before  a  green  leaf 
could  appear.  Then  after  vegetation  arose 
came  life  from  the  ooze  of  the  sea;  and  finally 
from  the  higher  order  of  life  there  was  developed 
primitive  man,  of  whom  the  Vedda  remains  our 
nearest  type,  described  as  living  in  trees  and 
crawling  down  to  feed  on  what  he  can  find, 
unable  to  walk  upright  until  he  gains  more 
food  as  summer  advances.  Man  lingered  long 
in  the  savage  state,  and  like  other  wild  beasts, 
his  chief  occupation  was  war  upon  his  kind, 
eating  as  well  as  killing  his  captives.  Subse- 
quently he  developed  into  the  barbaric  stage, 
not  quite  so  much  of  the  wild  beast.  He  began 
building  huts,  sometimes  cultivating  the  ground, 


THE  LONG  MARCH  UPWARD    175 

always  improving  upon,  never  permanently 
falling  so  low  as  his  predecessor. 

After  unnumbered  years  of  such  storm  and 
stress,  we  of  to-day  have  become  more  civilised, 
more  peaceable;  the  arts  of  peace,  not  those  of 
war,  our  occupation.  We  have  reached  the 
industrial  age  w^ith  its  problems.  These  we  are 
called  upon  to  study  and  discuss,  never  fearing 
that  the  power  within  us,  which  decrees  unceas- 
ing improvement,  w^ill  not  enable  us  to  continue 
to  tread  the  upward  path.  We  shall  make 
mistakes  as  usual,  but  the  human  organism 
feels  its  way  surely  though  slowly,  drawing 
back  its  tentacles  whenever  they  touch  dele- 
terious soil,  groping  again  until  fertile  ground 
is  found,  and  then  the  next  step  forward  is 
taken.  Thus  the  organism  never  moves  far 
until  the  right  path  is  discovered.  It  is  on  the 
constant  search  for  nutriment,  and  discards 
all  that  is  injurious.  If  it  now  and  then  swallows 
an  indigestible  mouthful  it  promptly  spews  it 
out.  Hence  its  constant  march  onward  and 
upward.  It  has  never  met  a  difficulty  which 
it  has  not  surmounted.  It  bears  a  charmed  life. 
All  this  Herbert  Spencer  has  clearly  revealed. 

It  is  a  healthful  sign  when  there  is  unrest 
and  dissatisfaction,  and  zealous,  even  extreme, 
advocates  of  change  clamoring  for  better  things 


176  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

and  quicker  march.  Divine  discontent  is  the 
root  of  progress,  and  even  our  Socialistic  friends, 
with  their  revolutionary  ideas,  stirr  the  waters 
for  our  good,  if  we  reason  soberly  together 
and  test  their  proposed  remedies,  before  we 
forsake  the  path  which  has  so  far  led  our  race 
upward  from  the  brute  to  civilised  manhood. 
By  the  nature  of  its  being,  the  one  rule  which 
the  human  race  never  can  persistently  violate 
is  that  which  proclaims,  ''Hold  fast  to  that 
which  has  proved  itself  good." 

Complaint  against  our  Socialistic  friends  is 
not  that  they  do  not  mean  well.  On  the  con- 
trary, no  class  is  moved  by  worthier  impulses. 
Their  hearts  are  in  the  right  place,  and  one 
cannot  but  sometimes  admire  their  aspirations. 
Thus  Keir  Hardie  writes: 

**  Surely  it  is  reasonable  to  hope  that  a  day 
will  dawn  in  which  a  desire  to  serve  rather  than 
to  be  served  shall  be  the  spur  which  shall  drive 
men  onward  to  noble  deeds." 

"There  is  perfect  agreement  on  two  leading 
points  of  principle:  hostility  to  militarism  in 
all  its  forms,  and  to  war  as  a  method  of  settling 
disputes  between  nations  is  the  first."* 

George  Eliot  says  somewhere  that  she  could 

•  "From  Serfdom  to  Socialism,"  p.  95. 


THE  LONG  MARCH  UPWARD     177 

imagine  a  coming  day  when  the  effort  to  assist 
a  fellow-being  in  trouble  would  be  as  involun- 
tary as  it  now  is  to  clutch  one  stumbling  and 
in  danger  of  falling  to  the  ground.  Such  hopes 
and  aspirations  are  not  confined  to  Socialists. 
They  are  held  by  hosts  of  good  Individualists. 
Let  these  be  freely  indulged.  Under  Individ- 
ualism the  race  is  ever  developing  the  generous 
impulses.  Altruism  grows  as  time  rolls  on. 
Never  was  civilised  man  his  brother's  keeper 
to  such  an  extent  as  in  our  day.  Socialistic 
conditions  are  not  required  to  produce  healthy 
growth  in  this  direction.  Where  we  differ 
from  the  Socialist  is  as  to  the  advisability  of  any 
violent  change  from  Individualism,  which  has 
guided  and  is  still  guiding  in  the  direction 
desired  through  the  continual  improvement  of 
present  conditions. 

We  believe  that  the  surest  and  best  way  to 
obtain  more  service  from  men  to  their  less 
fortunate  fellows  is  by  continued  evolution 
as  in  the  past,  instead  of  by  revolutionary 
Socialism,  which  spends  its  time  preaching  such 
changes  as  are  not  within  measurable  distance 
of  attainment,  even  if  they  were  desirable  in 
themselves.  We  feel  that  Socialists  neglect 
the  immediate  duty  of  their  day  and  generation 
and  vainly  attempt  to  provide  for  a  distant  and 


178  PROBLEMS   OF  TO-DAY 

unknown  future  of  the  race,  which  alone  can 
determine  its  own  wants  in  its  own  day.  Their 
revolutionary  outbursts  alarm  the  timid  and 
conservative,  and  hence  threaten  to  delay  and 
perhaps  to  frustrate  for  a  generation  many 
desirable  advances,  which  the  moderate  wing 
of  their  own  party  ardently  desire,  especially 
in  Britain.  The  extreme  Socialists  themselves 
are  one  of  the  obstacles  to  substantial  progress 
to-day. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  timid  and  conserva- 
tive must  not  fail  to  remember  that  grave  and 
unjust  inequalities  prevail  in  connection  with 
the  land:  non-taxation  of  site  values,  plural 
voting,  and  unequal  electoral  districts  in  Britain; 
also  in  taxation  not  according  to  ability  to  pay, 
and  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  common 
to  all  countries.  And  they  also  should  remem- 
ber that  the  surest  and,  indeed,  the  only  way 
of  ensuring  a  contented  people  is  promptly  to 
recognise  and  redress  these  and  other  evils. 

It  would  be  futile  to  indulge  the  belief  that 
the  masses  of  Britain  will  much  longer  be 
content  to  see  their  fellows  in  Canada,  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  and  America  enjoying  free  land, 
without  primogeniture  or  settlements,  and  sites 
taxed  at  true  values,  equality  of  voting  power 
through  equal  electoral  districts,  one  man  one 


THE  LONG  MARCH  UPWARD     179 

vote,  payment  of  members,  complete  control  over 
the  liquor  traffic,  yearly  licences  at  high  rates 
and  freely  cancelled,  and  local  option  rapidly 
spreading.  Equality  with  their  fellows  across 
the  seas  must  soon  become  the  cry,  and  the 
sooner  this  is  granted  the  better,  that  the  steady 
march  of  evolutionary  development,  so  fruitful 
in  the  past,  so  necessary  for  the  future,  may 
continue  to  hold  peaceful  sway  in  the  land 
where  freedom  broadens  slowly  down.  The 
pace  of  reform  for  some  years  has  been  much 
too  slow  as  compared  with  progress  in  ideas. 
The  day  is  coming  when  kindred  institutions 
shall  prevail  in  all  the  nations  of  our  race, 
that  which  proved  advantageous  in  one  being 
promptly  adopted  by  all  the  others.  Thus  shall 
be  laid  the  foundations  of  a  lasting  and  beneficent 
imperialism  of  race,  whose  influence  in  the 
councils  of  the  world,  always  pleading 
for  peaceful  arbitration  of  disputes,  will  lead 
to  the  reign  of  peace  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man. 

One  parting  word  to  our  well-meaning  but, 
as  we  believe,  misled  Socialistic  friends.  To 
be  born  to  honest  poverty  and  compelled  to 
labor  and  strive  for  a  livelihood  in  youth  is 
the  best  of  all  schools  for  developing  latent 
qualities,  strengthening  character,  and  making 


180  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

useful  men;  hence  from  this  school  have  come 
our  leaders.  It  is  well  that  man  should  go  forth 
to  his  work  in  the  morning  and  labor  until  the 
evening.  Work  is  no  punishment;  it  is  a 
blessing.  Steady  work  is  also  the  best  pre- 
servative of  the  virtues.  No  substitute  for  it 
has  yet  been  found. 

Man  has  not  been  placed  in  this  world  to 
play  and  amuse  himself.  He  is  entrusted 
with  a  serious  mission  and  has  onerous  duties 
to  perform,  not  to  a  future  generation  but  to 
his  own,  and  he  who  fails  to  labor  for  the 
improvement  of  this,  our  own  life  of  to-day, 
does  not  deserve  another.  To  advocate  specu- 
lative schemes  for  a  future  of  which  we  can 
know  nothing  is  folly  and  worse,  for  the  revolu- 
tionary ideas  so  rashly  proclaimed  by  the 
Socialist  alarm  sober-minded  conservative  men, 
and  drive  them  into  the  ranks  of  those  who 
oppose  the  salutary  reforms  needed  in  our 
day,  which  could  otherwise  be  easily  won. 

Socialists  Evolutionary,  Socialists  Halfway, 
Socialists  Revolutionary  —  we  are  here  to 
attend  to  the  pressing  wants  of  our  own  age, 
not  to  obstruct  the  steady  orderly  march  of 
progress  by  basing  action  upon  the  startling 
assumption  that  in  a  distant  and  unknown 
future   Individualism,   under   which   man    has 


THE  LONG  MARCH  UPWARD      181 

steadily  advanced,  is  to  be  supplanted  by 
Communism.  This  is  to  lose  the  substance  by 
grasping  for  the  shadow,  and  waste  our  time 
like  children  chasing  rainbows  and  crying  for 
the  moon. 


My  Experience  with   Railway  Rates 
and  Rebates 


MY  EXPERIENCE  WITH  RAIL- 
WAY RATES  AND  REBATES 

THIS  subject  carries  one  back  to  his  early 
days.  It  was  in  1856  that  my  chief, 
Thomas  A.  Scott,  superintendent  of  the  Pitts- 
burg division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
was  made  general  superintendent,  with  head- 
quarters at  Altoona.  I  was  his  secretary  and 
telegraph-operator  in  Pittsburg,  and  he  took 
me  with  him. 

The  duties  of  the  superintendent  of  the 
line,  then  in  its  infancy,  included  the  making 
of  local  freight  rates.  These  I  entered  in  the 
rate-book,  and  naturally  grew  to  take  a  share 
in  their  making.  Our  great  aim  in  those  days 
was  to  develop  local  traffic.  Of  through  traffic 
little  was  expected,  although  President  Thomson, 
the  great  railroad  man  of  his  day,  had 
ventured  to  predict  that  a  hundred  carloads 
of  through  freight  would  in  time  pass 
Pittsburg  daily.  This  prophecy  was  often 
quoted  to  show  the  length  to  which  that  san- 
guine, but  far-sighted,  official   could  go.     Now 

185 


186  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

every  day  thousands  pass  through  the  city  in 
each  direction. 

Local  traffic  —  that  is,  traffic  originating 
and  ending  upon  the  line  —  was  then  depended 
upon  to  yield  revenue.  One  enterprising  man 
would  write  or  call  to  say  that  he  was  thinking 
of  opening  a  stone  quarry  on  the  line  and  ship- 
ping dressed  stone  to  the  towns  and  cities,  if 
he  could  get  rates  enabling  him  to  do  so.  Be- 
cause traffic  paying  much  less  than  we  might 
think  fair  was  better  than  no  traffic  at  all, 
we  would  hold  out  every  inducement  to  pion- 
eers, with  the  result  that  the  quarry  was  opened. 

Another  was  willing  to  make  the  experi- 
ment of  cutting  bark  and  shipping  it  to  tan- 
neries, intending  later,  however,  to  erect  a 
tannery  in  the  forest.  Here  was  a  tempting 
new  enterprise,  and  rates  were  readily  agreed 
upon.  Another  thought  a  peculiar  quality  of 
sand  was  suitable  for  glassmaking,  and  was 
willing  to  open  the  deposit  and  test  it.  He  was 
promptly  accorded  a  siding,  which  was  usually 
necessary,  and  rates  low  enough  to  permit 
him  to  begin. 

The  plot  began  to  thicken  when  a  second 
man  came  with  a  proposition  to  open  another 
similar  factory  or  quarry,  which  he  could  not 
do    unless    he    received    rates    equal    to    those 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  187 

given  to  his  predecessor,  although  his  railway  haul 
might  be  longer.  If  two  factories  were  to  be 
only  a  few  miles  apart,  it  was  obvious  that 
they  had  to  receive  the  same  rates,  and  so  the 
question  of  ''special  rates,"  starting  very  simply, 
soon  became  a  complicated  one.  Areas  had 
to  be  established  in  which  the  rates  were  uniform, 
although  this  involved  the  seeming  injustice  of 
charging  more  per  ton  per  mile  upon  the  traffic 
of  one  than  of  the  other.  This  could  not  be 
avoided. 

At  a  later  date,  corporations  were  found 
desirous  of  establishing  iron-works  and  of 
opening  coal-mines,  etc. 

From  such  small  beginnings  was  built  up 
the  enormous  local  traffic  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  unequalled,  it  is  believed,  by  any 
other  line  in  the  world.  All  these  rates,  it 
will  be  understood,  referred  to  traffic  within 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  Pittsburg  and  Phila- 
delphia being  the  terminals  of  the  line.  Beyond 
Philadelphia  was  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Rail- 
way; beyond  Pittsburg,  the  Fort  Wayne  & 
Chicago,  separate  organisations  with  which 
we  had  nothing  to  do. 

During  this  period,  through  traffic  occupied 
an  entirely  subordinate  position.  Rates  for 
it  were   made   in   Philadelphia  by  a  "freight 


188  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

agent,"  who  then  was  an  official  of  little  import- 
ance compared  with  what  he  soon  became. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  Erie,  New  York 
Central,  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania systems  between  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
and  the  great  West,  a  strong  competition  for 
through  traffic  at  once  began.  At  first  it  was  a 
scramble,  and  each  road  got  what  it  could,  at 
the  best  rate  it  could,  regardless  of  everything. 
The  position  was  peculiar,  and  is  so  still, 
and  must  long  remain  so.  Eastbound  ton- 
nage from  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  other  points 
in  the  West  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  is  far 
greater  than  that  from  the  East  to  the  West; 
hence  long  trains  of  empty  freight-cars  have 
to  be  hauled  westward  empty. 

It  is  evident  why  westward-bound  freight 
was  eagerly  sought  by  all  lines.  Each  had 
its  freight  agents,  all  scrambling  to  secure  the 
prize.  What  rates  might  be  obtained  for  west- 
bound freight  was  a  secondary  consideration, 
for  any  rate  was  clear  gain,  since  cars  must  go 
west  in  any  case,  and  might  as  well  go  loaded 
as  empty. 

Hence  bitter  wars  broke  out  between  the 
roads  at  intervals,  and  the  four  presidents 
would  meet  and  make  what  was  called  a  "gentle- 
men's   agreement."     These    worthy    presidents 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  189 

would  give  their  word  of  honor  that  certain  rates 
would  be  strictly  adhered  to,  and  gave  orders 
to  that  effect,  we  may  be  sure,  in  good  faith 
to  their  subordinates.  But  it  is  a  remarkable 
fact,  notwithstanding,  that  these  "gentlemen's 
agreements"  did  not  last  long,  but  required 
renewal  at  short  intervals.  The  rates  agrreed 
upon  were  too  easily  evaded.  The  assistant 
freight  agent  or  one  of  his  staff  could  promise 
certain  favors  to  shippers  upon  other  traffic, 
while  adhering  strictly  to  the  agreed-upon 
charge  for  that  he  was  securing,  or  could  remit 
charges  upon  other  freight  not  involved  in  the 
agreement. 

So  gentlemen's  agreements  were  made  and 
remade,  but  meanwhile  freight  from  Pittsburg 
was  often  sent  by  way  of  the  Ohio  River,  some 
five  hundred  miles,  to  Cincinnati,  transferred 
from  boat  to  railroad  car  there,  and  trans- 
ported back  to  Pittsburg  by  rail,  passing  through 
its  streets  to  the  seaboard,  for  less  than  the 
fixed  rate  upon  the  same  articles  from  Pitts- 
burg direct  to  the  seaboard.  It  was  the  same 
with  freight  from  the  East  to  the  West.  Many 
a  trainload  of  iron  from  the  East  has  passed 
through  the  streets  of  Pittsburg,  paying  less 
freight  than  was  charged  upon  the  same  articles 
from  Pittsburg  to  the  same  points  west.     The 


190  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

Pennsylvania  Railroad  had  a  monopoly  of 
the  traffic,  and  much  grievous  wrong  had 
we  manufacturers  in  that  state  to  suffer  in 
consequence. 

We  must  not  be  understood  as  blaming  the 
Pennsylvania  officials  severely.  They  did  not 
raise  our  Pittsburg  rates,  and  these  in  them- 
selves might  be  considered  fair;  but  they 
lowered  the  rates  to  our  competitors  in  their 
warfare  with  the  trunk-lines.  This  bore  hard 
upon  the  manufacturers  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
especially  of  Pittsburg.  It  would  have  been  a 
wiser  and  broader  policy  if  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  had  been  bold  enough  to  say:  "Come 
what  may,  w^e  will  protect  manufacturers  upon 
our  own  lines";  but  it  required  more  than 
the  ordinary  railroad  official  of  that  day  to 
reach  this  height.  A  perfect  system  of  rates 
over  the  various  routes  could  not  be  reached 
without  first  passing  for  a  season  through  great 
irregularities  and  making  many  mistakes. 
Order  had  to  be  hammered  out  of  chaos. 

These  were  the  days  when  the  much- talked 
of  "rebates"  had  their  origin.  "Gentlemen's- 
agreement"  rates  were  charged,  and  the  bills 
of  lading  were  fair  and  square  on  the  surface, 
but  the  understanding  with  the  shipper  was 
that  rebates  would  be  allowed  and  settled  for 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES    191 

at  some  future  time.  The  keener  members 
soon  discovered  that  evidence  might  be  called 
for  by  competing  lines,  and  the  question  asked, 
**  Have  any  rebates  been  paid  on  this  shipment  ?" 
The  party  concerned  might  be  able  to  say 
that  he  had  paid  none,  but  had  he  been  ques- 
tioned a  month  or  two  afterward,  perhaps,  or 
asked  if  advantages  in  other  directions  had 
not  been  granted  to  the  shipper,  he  could  not 
have  so  stated  truthfully.  In  short,  every 
conceivable  way  of  keeping  the  word  of  promise 
to  the  ear  and  breaking  it  to  the  hope  was 
indulged  in.  At  least  we  shippers  over  the 
Pennsylvania  road  heard  from  its  officials  from 
time  to  time  that  the  other  lines  were  most 
unscrupulous  competitors  and  solely  blamable 
for  the  reigning  disorder. 

The  sentiment  aroused  in  Pittsburg  because 
of  these  unequal  rates  became  dangerous. 
The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  was  regarded  as  a 
monopoly  strangling  to  local  interests,  and  so 
it  was.  The  manufacturers  of  Pittsburg,  never 
in  a  position  to  get  rebates,  were  in  fact  being 
driven  to  the  wall  by  the  competition  of  manu- 
facturers upon  other  lines  whose  products  passed 
their  doors  and  were  carried  a  thousand  miles 
over  the  Pennsylvania  system  for  less  than 
they  were  compelled  to  pay  for  half  the  dis- 


192  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

tance.  Remonstrances  were  constantly  made, 
but  without  avail,  until  the  time  came  when  the 
railway  company  had  a  dispute  with  its  men, 
which  gave  occasion  for  an  outburst  of  the 
smoldering  bitterness  Pittsburg  felt.  Grave 
riots  took  placCc.  and  the  spirit  of  hostility  shown 
by  all  classes  to  the  great  monopoly  brought 
from  Philadelphia  my  former  chief,  then  vice- 
president,  to  Pittsburg.  At  a  conference  with 
the  manufacturers  it  was  agreed  by  him  that 
no  matter  what  the  through  rates  fell  to,  the  local 
traffic  on  their  lines  from  Pittsburg  would  be 
carried  to  Chicago  or  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  at  a  small  difference  less  than  the  through 
rate  between  the  seaboard  and  Chicago  and 
other  points.  That  is  to  say,  Pittsburg  traffic 
would  be  charged  only  a  shade  less  for  half 
the  distance  than  Philadelphia  and  Chicago 
through  traffic  paid  for  double  the  distance.  Rates 
according  to  distance  were  denied.  With  this 
the  Pittsburg  manufacturers  had  to  be  content. 
Matters  went  along  tolerably  well  until  railway 
rates  were  again  thoroughly  demoralised  by  war 
between  the  trunk-lines.  Our  Carnegie  Steel 
Company  upon  this  occasion  had  had  what  it 
thought  the  certainty  of  a  contract  of  great 
value  for  material  with  the  Newport  News 
Shipbuilding  Company,  freight  from  Pittsburg 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  193 

to  Newport  News  being  much  less  than  from 
Chicago.  The  contract,  however,  went  to 
Chicago,  and  upon  investigation  we  found 
that  the  rate  given  to  our  Chicago  competitor 
to  Newport  News  was  less  than  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  rate  from  Pittsburg,  the  distance 
not  one-half  so  great.  President  Ingalls  of  the 
Chesapeake  &  Ohio,  then  beginning  his  brilliant 
career,  had  made  the  lower  rate  for  his  new  line, 
not  yet  embraced  in  the  "gentlemen's  agree- 
ment." We  investigated,  and  found  several 
rates  of  a  similar  nature  prevailing  to  other 
points,  and  having  a  list  of  these  made,  the 
writer  carried  it  to  President  Roberts  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  with  a  request  that  he 
place  us  upon  his  own  line  on  an  equality  with 
manufacturers  on  other  lines.  When  the  paper 
was  presented  to  him,  showing  the  overcharges 
we  labored  under,  he  pushed  it  aside,  saying: 
**I  have  enough  business  of  my  own  to  attend 
to;  don't  wish  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
yours,  Andy." 

I  said:  "All  right,  Mr.  Roberts;  when  you 
wish  to  see  me  again,  you  will  ask  an  interview. 
Good  morning." 

The  situation  had  become  intolerable,  and 
we  looked  about  for  the  best  means  of  pro- 
tecting ourselves.     A  railroad-line  of  our  own 


194  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

from  Pittsburg  to  the  Lakes  would  be  an  inval- 
uable acquisition,  rendering  us  independent 
of  any  monopoly  and  enabling  us  to  transport 
all  our  ironstone  traffic  from  the  lakes  to  Pitts- 
burg, and  our  coal  and  coke  from  Pittsburg  to 
the  lakes,  also  giving  us  connection  with  the 
other  through  lines.  I  purchased  the  harbor  at 
Conneaut  and  a  few  miles  of  railroad  connected 
with  it,  and  began  extending  the  line  to  Pittsburg. 
My  partners  had  good  reason  to  dread  the 
consequences  of  the  reckless  challenge  to  the 
monster  monopoly,  and  I  could  not  blame  them ; 
for  it  undoubtedly  had  the  power  to  cripple  our 
operations.  An  intimation  to  the  superinten- 
dent that  the  car-supply  for  our  works  or  the 
movement  of  our  traffic,  need  not  receive  undue 
attention  would  be  serious,  indeed.  As  a 
precaution,  I  took  good  care  that  the  authorities 
in  Philadelphia  were  advised  of  the  policy  I 
had  determined  to  pursue  if  there  was  the 
slightest  interruption  to  our  business:  all  our 
works  would  be  stopped,  I  would  visit  each  in 
succession,  and  inform  the  workmen  why 
they  were  idle;  publish  the  monopoly  rates; 
explain  why  Pittsburg  needed  our  new  railroad; 
and  ask  them,  and  all  the  workmen  from  other 
mills,  to  stand  with  folded  arms  upon  the 
streets    over    which    the    Pennsylvania    trains 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  195 

passed  for  miles,  'in  peaceful  protest  and  as 
an  intimation  that  justice  had  better  be  done 
to  Pittsburg.  No  interference  with  our  oper- 
ations came. 

It  was  not  long  before  I  received  a  note  from 
Vice-President  Thomson,  saying  that  President 
Roberts  and  himself  would  like  an  interview.  I 
agreed  to  call  as  I  passed  through  Philadelphia, 
and  did  so.  I  write  this  in  the  first  person 
because  my  partners  did  not  see  their  way  to 
fight  the  great  Pennsylvania  Railroad;  but  my 
Scotch  blood  was  up,  and  I  was  in  to  fight  to 
the  death,  determined  no  longer  to  stand  what 
we  had  been  groaning  under.  It  was  indeed  a 
fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  railroad 
monopoly  in  those  early  days,  and  yet  this  is 
to  be  said  for  the  railroad:  while  its  rates  for 
competitive  traffic  w^ere  being  reduced  beyond 
reason  by  competition,  the  company  needed  all 
the  more  the  high  rates  upon  local  traffic  if 
these  could  be  enforced.  This  was  no  doubt 
taking  a  very  narrow  view,  but  railroading  was 
then  in  its  infancy^  and  public  sentiment  was 
not  the  force  it  has  since  become. 

What  I  needed  for  the  interview  with  my 
former  railway  associates  were  the  secret  rebate 
rates  prevailing  elsewhere.  Our  freight  agent 
Mr.    McCague,    then    a    clever    young    man, 


196  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

obtained  these  and  placed  them  in  my  hands 
in  a  few  days.  He  had  left  me  with  the  word 
of  Richelieu  ringing  in  his  ears. 

**.    .    .    From  the  hour  I  grasp  that  packet. 
Think  your  guardian  stars  rains  fortune  on  you!" 

Some  time  after  that  he  was  of  course  ad- 
mitted to  partnership;  that  was  the  turning- 
point  in  his  career. 

Entering  President  Roberts's  room,  I  found 
him  and  my  dear  friend,  Frank  Thomson, 
vice-president,  sitting  together.  My  reception 
was  cordial. 

''How  are  you,  Andy.?" 

"How  are  you,  Mr.  Roberts.?  How  are 
you,  Frank  ?  Gentlemen,  you  asked  me  for  an 
interview,  and  here  is  the  culprit  before  you. 
Put  me  in  the  dock  and  question  me  as 
you    wish." 

Frank  said:  "This  is  just  what  we  want 
to  do.     May  I  be  examiner.?" 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "you  are  just  the  man." 

"What  are  you  fighting  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  for.?"  he  asked.  "You  were  brought 
up  in  its  service.     We  were  boys  together." 

"Well,  Frank,  I  knew  you  would  ask  me 
that  question,  and  here  is  the  answer." 

I  handed  him  the  packet  of  secret  rates,  and, 
begging  to  be  excused  for  a  few  minutes,  left 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  197 

the  room,  desirous  of  giving  them  an  opportunity 
of  looking  it  over  together.  Upon  my  return 
they  were  still  sitting  with  the  packet  lying 
before  them. 

Frank  raised  his  head  and  exclaimed:  *'Andy, 
I  feel  like  Rip  Van  Winkle." 

''Frank,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  officials 
have  slept  just  about  as  long." 

"Well,  tell  us  what  you  want." 

"I  don't  want  anything.  I  did  not  ask  to 
see  you.     You  asked  to  see  me." 

"Don't  talk  that  way.  What  do  you  want? 
We  wish  to  make  an  arrangement  satisfactory 
to  you.  We  did  not  know  these  things  were 
going  on.  We  can  hardly  believe  it;  but  we 
shall  now  find  out.  Tell  us  what  you  think 
we  ought  to  do." 

I  said:  "Gentlemen,  all  we  have  ever  asked 
was  that  the  rates  charged  us  shall  be  at  all 
times  as  low  as  those  which  competitors  on 
other  lines  are  paying  on  the  same  articles  for 
similar  distances.  We  ask  for  nothing  else. 
Other  lines  are  carrying  freight  for  our  com- 
petitors cheaper  than  you  are  carrying  it  for  us, 
and  you  take  part  of  this  freight  at  the  cut 
rates.  We  cannot  stand  that.  We  have  never 
asked  for  lower  rates  than  our  competitors, 
but  we  shall  never  rest  satisfied  with  less." 


198  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

"If  you  will  stop  building  that  line  from 
the  lakes  to  your  works,  we  will  do  what  you 
ask,"  was  his  response. 

"Gentlemen,  that  cannot  be.  I  have  agreed 
to  build  that  line,  and  certain  parties  have 
taken  action  in  consequence  of  my  promise. 
It  has  to  be  built." 

Repeated  efforts  were  made  to  induce  me  to 
forego  building,  until  finally  I  said  to  President 
Roberts:  "You  have  just  given  a  rival  con- 
cern about  to  build  works  on  your  line  in 
Pittsburg  an  agreement  to  give  them  everything 
you  give  us.  We  make  no  complaint;  but  if 
I  had  come  to  you  and  asked  you,  Mr.  Roberts, 
to  withdraw  that  agreement,  and  you  had  told 
me  you  were  pledged  to  give  it,  I  should  say 
no  more;  I  should  expect  you  to  keep  your 
word.  If  abandoning  the  new  line  is  a 
condition  of  anything  you  will  do  for  us, 
we  must  part."  No  more  was  said  upon  that 
subject. 

Then  came  the  extension  of  the  lake  line  we 
had  decided  to  build  from  Pittsburg  to  our 
coke-ovens.  They  wished  that  stopped,  and  as 
I  was  not  yet  pledged  to  build  it,  I  said  that 
was  a  matter  for  negotiation.  If  they  wished 
to  carry  our  coke  over  their  line  from  the  ovens 
to  our  works  at  Pittsburg  at  the  same  rate 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  199 

agreed  upon  with  the  new  proposed  line  for 
that  service,  they  could  have  the  contract. 
This  they  gladly  accepted.  The  result  of  the 
meeting  was  that  I  got  all  I  asked  for,  and 
greatly  obliged  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
by  allowing  them  to  retain  transportation  of 
our  own  coke  traffic  from  the  coke-jfields 
to  Pittsburg.  Everything  was  satisfactorily 
arranged,  and  we  were  all  "boys  together" 
again.  I  was  the  ally  of  the  P.  R.  R.,  much 
to  my  delight. 

It  was  estimated  that  the  agreement  saved 
us  about  one  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars 
per  year,  a  large  sum  upon  our  business  then. 
Railway  officials,  free  from  restrictions,  could 
make  or  unmake  mining  and  manufacturing 
concerns  in  those  days,  and  could  do  so  still, 
had  we  not  at  last  a  court  of  appeal  and  laws 
against  obvious  discriminations. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  is  to 
become  one  of  our  greatest  safeguards. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  that  one  part 
of  the  understanding  w^as  that  so  long  as  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  gave  us  the  same  rates 
our  competitors  paid  for  similar  distances 
anywhere  in  the  United  States,  we  would  not 
be  parties  to  building  any  additional  lines  in  the 
Pittsburg  district  in  competition  with  the  Penn- 


200         PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

sylvania  Railroad,   and   this   agreement  lasted 
until  Mr.  Cassatt  returned  to  power. 

I  was  in  Europe  when  he  changed  the  coke 
and  other  rates,  not  knowing  their  origin  or 
the  details  of  our  agreement  with  his  pre- 
decessors. All  that  we  asked  and  obtained, 
as  I  have  explained,  was  the  same  rates  given 
by  other  lines  to  our  competitors,  and  nothing 
lower  than  these.  It  was  impossible,  I  am 
told,  for  the  railroad  company  to  do  anything 
however,  but  charge  the  regular  rates  on  some 
of  our  shipments  as  made,  and  at  the  end  of 
each  month  to  compare  these  rates  with  any 
they  had  given  to  others,  or  which  we  could 
show  their  competitors  had  given  to  others, 
for  similar  traffic.  Therefore,  the  necessary 
deductions,  if  any,  that  had  to  be  made  to  us, 
might  be  considered  in  one  sense  technically 
**  rebates  "  upon  the  higher  rates  charged  although 
not  such  in  any  true  sense;  for  the  net  result 
to  us  was  that,  according  to  the  agreement,  we 
got  just  the  rates  that  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road officials  were  satisfied  our  competitors 
were  paying  in  other  districts  over  other  lines'. 
Thus  we  were  given,  as  it  were,  the  "most 
favored  nation"  clause,  nothing  more.  The 
new  rate  on  coke  was  in  a  different  category. 
Here    the    Pennsylvania    Railroad    Company 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  201 

elected  to  take  the  place  of  a  threatened  rival 
railroad  and  had  to  meet  its  terms.  The 
Carnegie  Steel  Company  only  got  what  the 
new  line  was  to  give  it. 

The  efforts  of  Pittsburg  manufacturers  to 
escape  the  thrall  of  the  great  monopoly  were, 
first,  the  making  of  an  independent  line  to  the 
lakes,  and  connecting  with  the  New  York  & 
Erie,  New  York  Central,  etc.,  which  was  done, 
but  subsequently  sold  to  the  Vanderbilt  interests, 
who  offered  three  dollars  for  one  invested.  It 
proved  to  be  a  great  mistake  to  sell,  because 
it  permitted  the  two  railroad  systems  to  confer 
and  come  to  terms  upon  Gxed  rates  and  probably 
division  of  traffic.  Thus  ended  effort  number 
one. 

Some  time  after,  when  war  again  broke 
out  between  the  rival  systems,  the  late  William 
H.  Vanderbilt  asked  me  what  I  thought  of 
the  project  of  his  able  and  enterprising  son- 
in-law,  Mr.  Twombly,  to  extend  the  Reading 
system  to  Pittsburg  through  Pennsylvania.  I 
thought  so  well  of  it  that  I  said:  **If  you  will 
undertake  it,  I  and  my  friends  will  go  with 
you  to  the  extent  of  $5,000,000,"  a  prodigious 
sum  then  —  at  least  to  us. 

*'If  you  will,  then  I  will  put  in  $5,000,000 
also,"   he  replied.     Thus   the   South   Pennsyf- 


202  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

vania  was  organised,  and  its  construction  begun. 
Here  was  a  chance  for  the  New  York  Central 
to  grip  and  hold  its  antagonist  by  the  throat; 
but  the  Pennsylvania  interests,  seeing  what 
the  movement  involved,  approached  Mr.  Van- 
derbilt  while  I  was  absent  in  Europe  and 
induced  him  to  surrender.  Exactly  what  ad- 
vantage the  New  York  Central  system  received, 
I  do  not  know,  but  it  should  have  been  great 
indeed,  for  this  was  probably  the  greatest 
mistake  in  its  history.  Mr.  Twombly  had 
found  the  key  to  masterdom  for  the  Vanderbilt 
interests,  but  it  was  foolishly  thrown  away. 
The  work  on  the  South  Pennsylvania  was 
stopped,  and  our  investment  returned.  Thus 
ended  efiFort  number   two. 

My  personal  ejffort  to  build  the  Bessemer  Rail- 
road to  the  Lakes  came  after  these  vain  efforts 
of  united  Pittsburg  to  emancipate  herself. 

When  Mr.  Cassatt  ended  the  agreement 
entered  into  between  his  predecessor  and  myself, 
I  was  quite  prepared  to  take  up  the  challenge. 
We  were  once  more  free.  An  idea  struck  me 
one  morning.  I  called  upon  Mr.  George  Gould 
and  said  to  him:  "Years  ago,  soon  after  I 
had  taken  up  residence  in  New  York,  your 
father  approached  me  in  the  Windsor  Hotel 
and  said  he  would  buy  the  control  of  the  Penn- 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  203 

sylvania  Railroad,  and  divide  profits  equally 
with  me,  if  I  would  promise  to  devote  myself 
to  its  management.  It  was  a  great  compliment 
to  be  paid  to  one  so  young;  but  my  heart  was 
already  in  steel  development,  and  I  declined. 
This  morning  I  come  to  you  and  offer  an  oppor- 
tunity to  create  and  control  a  through  line  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Extend  your  line 
to  Pittsburg,  and  we  will  give  you  a  contract 
for  one-third  of  all  our  business,  provided  you 
agree  to  give  us  the  rates  prevailing  elsewhere 
and  enjoyed  by  our  competitors,"  I  offered 
to  build  west  to  meet  him,  and  also  to  join 
him  in  building  east.  Fortunately  he  agreed, 
and  the  result  is  that  the  Gould  system  to-day 
is  in  Pittsburg,  enjoying  that  contract.  We 
were  just  upon  the  eve  of  arranging  to  extend 
the  line  eastward,  taking  in  our  coke-works 
en  route,  which  would  have  been  a  hard  blow 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  since  we  con- 
trolled our  own  coke  traffic,  when  Mr.  Morgan 
asked  Mr.  Schwab,  if  I  wished  to  retire  from 
business;  if  so,  he  thought  he  could  let  me  out. 
I  replied  in  the  affirmative,  having  resolved 
early  in  life  not  to  spend  my  old  age  struggling 
for  more  dollars.  I  had  seen  so  many  pitiable 
cases  of  men  with  fortunes  to  retire  upon  but 
nothing  to  retire  to,  condemned  to  continue  like 


204  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

flies  held  fast  by  the  revolving  wheel,  to  whom 
change  means  misery.  Of  course  we  stopped 
all  negotiations  looking  to  Eastern  extension 
after  this,  and  the  result  was  my  retirement 
from  business. 

With  Mr.  Cassatt's  return  to  power  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Pennsylvania  system,  came  needed 
reform,  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  record  the 
great  service  that  companion  of  my  youth  did 
to  the  railroad  interests  of  the  country.  In 
doing  so,  he  broke  the  constitution  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  prohibits  any  of  its  railroads 
from  controlling  competing  lines  by  purchase 
or  otherwise.  He  bought  large  interests  in 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  and  other  competing 
lines;  but  when  he  did  this,  I  do  not  believe 
he  knew  he  was  breaking  the  constitution,  for 
in  those  days  railway  oflScials  thought  little 
about  the  law,  because  it  rarely  touched  trans- 
portation operations.  These  investments  have 
since  been  sold  by  the  Pennsylvania  company. 

His  influence  upon  competing  lines  became 
decisive.  He  enforced  uniform  rates  honestly 
on  the  Pennsylvania  system,  and  he  gradually 
induced  the  other  lines  to  adhere  to  them. 
Then  was  established  what  is  called  the  "com- 
munity of  interest"  idea. 

In  the  interval,  the  Government  had  taken 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  205 

up  the  subject  of  interstate  commerce,  which 
the  states  were  and  are  clearly  unable  to  con- 
trol. Wise  laws  were  passed,  and  a  national 
commission  appointed,  and  the  evils  of  rebates 
are  to-day  already  unknown.  Under  present 
laws  no  corporation  can  afford  to  offer,  neither 
can  any  person  or  company  afford  to  receive 
rebates,  the  risk  of  exposure  and  punishment 
being  now  fortunately  far  too  great. 

Thus  the  conditions  described  as  prevailing 
in  the  past  in  railway  transportation,  then 
still  in  the  formative  stage,  are  rapidly  being 
succeeded  by  a  system  finally  to  become  as 
perfect  as  is  possible  for  man  to  create  and 
maintain. 

The  President  has  performed  a  great  service, 
focusing  the  attention  of  the  country  upon 
certain  crying  evils,  and  the  present  position 
of  the  Government  is  all  that  could  be  desired. 
The  dead  past  is  to  bury  its  past.  It  is  rapidly 
doing  so.  It  was  the  custom  for  different  rates 
to  prevail  in  the  beginning  of  railroad  develop- 
ment, when  all  was  chaos,  but  our  conditions 
are  soon  to  be  those  which  the  old  lands  have 
been  led  by  experience  to  establish.  We  are  only 
following  their  example  in  supervising  railway 
and  other  corporations  strictly,  as  we  do  national 
banks.     Leases,  mergers,  purchases  of  shares, 


206  PROBLEMS  OF  TO-DAY 

control  of  other  lines  or  corporations,  the  issue 
of  bonds  and  stocks,  and  the  rates  of  freight, 
must  all  be  reported,  examined,  and  approved 
by  the  tribunal  which  is  to  become  our  Industrial 
Supreme  Court. 

We  may  rest  assured  that  the  Interstate 
Commission,  progressing  from  year  to  year  as 
it  gains  experience,  will  sustain  fair  rates  for 
the  railroad  companies  and  establish  what  is 
indispensable  —  equality  of  rates  throughout  the 
whole  country.  The  equality  of  the  shipper 
will  soon  become  an  axiom  ranking  with  the 
equality  of  the  citizen  —  one  shipper's  privilege 
over  any  railroad  every  shipper's  right.  Dif- 
ferent rates  per  ton  or  per  mile  may  prevail  in 
different  sections  or  under  different  conditions 
but  these  will  be  open  to  all. 

This  will  give  to  shareholders  in  corporations 
a  degree  of  security  hitherto  unknown,  enhante 
the  value  of  their  investments,  and  prove  as 
beneficial  for  the  corporations  as  for  the  share- 
holders and  the  country.  Capital,  both  domestic 
and  foreign,  will  be  attracted  more  than  ever 
to  this  field. 

The  creation  of  the  commission  is  the  most 
important  addition  that  has  been  made  in  our 
day  to  the  machinery  of  government.  It  should 
be  proclaimed  by  the  Administration  and  lead- 


RAILWAY  RATES  AND  REBATES  ^07 

ing  statesmen  of  both  parties,  and  kept  clearly 
before  the  people  that  no  radical  action  has 
either  been  taken  or  is  contemplated.  On 
the  contrary,  all  that  is  desired  is  only  what 
other  nations  already  possess,  and  is  in  the 
truest  sense  conservative  and  preservative  in  the 
highest  degree. 

The  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  the  com- 
mission was  established,  which  has  already 
abolished  demoralising  rebates  and  is  rapidly 
giving  to  corporate  investments  the  security 
they  possess  in  other  lands  by  bringing  them 
under  supervision,  is  a  great  triumph  for  our 
governmental  system  in  all  departments,  leg- 
islative, executive,  and  judicial,  and  gives  to 
all  the  assurance  that  no  emergency  can  arise 
in  our  country  which  will  not  be  promptly  and 
successfully  met  —  an  intelligent,  just,  and  fair- 
minded  people  at  the  base  cordially  approving 
the  salutary  measures  of  their  representatives 
with  the  President,  a  great  reforming  force, 
at  the  head,  leading  the  way. 


374 


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